#and imo she’s been enabled in a lot of things — good and less good — and been told ‘no’ far less

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

I’m not defending Billie in the least or anything, and she is an adult and is responsible for her words and actions, but I’m just saying… She was a child star whose family’s entire existence revolves around her career and has since she was a young teenager. Which can be lovely for support, sure, but could also lead to limited outside guidance or perspective on her career. (Look, I know little about her family other than watching her documentary on Apple a few years ago.) I’m just saying there could be an echo chamber of influence in her circle leading to people enabling short-term resentment and pettiness instead of calculating how to play the long game. The fact that her own management was obtuse enough to be liking unsavoury tweets about another high profile artist on a public account is evidence enough that her larger team’s judgment is perhaps not the best to put it mildly.

Obviously it’s not a great look to vocally criticize *checks notes* selling more physical copies of albums, selling special digital editions of albums, releasing long form content and putting on an intricate show for fans when that’s the industry standard that you have to aspire to, and more importantly, even worse to make it seem you’re above it all while actively pursuing some of those things. Eventually she (along with any other artist coming up) is going to have to find that you do in fact have to show you care to have the kind of longevity that the big names have. She might just skate through this one because her fanbase is young and will support her, but eventually, she will have to have the product to back this all up.

I don’t know what I’m really saying here other than who you surround yourself with absolutely matters.

[overthinkthis]

Final thoughts on MMDIY

This is not going to be a review because I don't really do that kind of thing, but I do want to write about the point that I loved most about this show. I know it's not perfect but I will forgive a lot of wobbles in plot or editing when a show emotionally resonates with me or makes me feel seen in a way other shows don't. And the way queer struggles were portrayed in mmdiy definitely did that.

Neither Wan nor Kim are out as queer but it's like they're living in an open closet. It should be obvious to everyone (even themselves) that they love each other and yet, for the longest time they seem unable to make that last step and confess their love, even though they both desperately want to on some level.

We do get some explicit homophobia with regard to Wan's career but it very quickly becomes obvious that that isn't the actual problem. Wan is very well able to stand her ground when she is attacked directly, we see that with Jessie and with Marwin's family. She is ready to confess to Kim, plans to do so multiple times. Why is it so hard to make that last step?

I do not know what the creators of the show were trying to say, but what I feel when watching the show, is the impact of the invisible homophobia and misogyny woven into all of society. The kind that isn't openly hostile but consistenly equates happiness for women with straight marriage and queerness with being miserable. We can write essays about comphet, but to me, this show gives a good take on what it actually feels like to be pressed into this expectation (although, I should probably say that I come at this from the perspective of a trans guy, not a lesbian - I still think a lot of the feelings are similar).

I love the conversation between Wan and Kim and the end of ep 9, where Kim tells her that she is going to marry Marwin. She basically admits that she doesn't love him, but she is still going to marry him because her mother wants her to.

And we know her mum isn't really trying to control Kim or make her miserable - quite the opposite. All she wants is for Kim to be happy. She should probably know better - given how her own marriage ended - but the idea that marrying the 'perfect' guy is the pinnacle of female happiness is so ingrained in society that it's understandable why she still falls into this trap. I really like that they show how suffocating a parent only wanting what's 'best' for their child can be.

I love that this show made Marwin someone who looks like such a good catch. I mean, there were some red flags from the start, but at a time where Wan was more controlling and aggressive, he genuinely looked like the better option. Gentle, patient, rich (some people even commented that the show made them ship the straight couple). The kind of guy that would be endgame in every second cheesy het romcom.

The people around Kim can kind of feel that he isn't right for her (even Marwin on some level does) but they still all enable her terrible decision to marry him. Which is another aspect I like about the show: The conflict is only resolved when Wan and Kim choose each other.

Women are constantly discouraged from going for what they want, especially when it causes other people distress, but the show clearly says: They make this choice for themselves, even though it hurts people, and that is how they get their happy ending. Not by being perfect all the time, not by caring about everyone else's feelings, but by choosing what they want for themselves.

And yes, obvisouly the whole thing could have been resolved earlier with less people getting hurt. But in another sense it couldn't, because they weren't ready. It's easy to blame Kim and Wan for not being more honest earlier on, but we can't do so without acknowledging the silent (and sometimes very loud) pressure to conform to heteronormativity.

I know some people didn't like this show very much and I do hope you all get all the kinds of GLs you're longing for soon. But imo it shows important aspects of queer experiences that we don't see a lot. And I'm really glad it exists in the way it does.

[decepti-thots]

OHOHOHO. I am always ready to help enable someone's reread, anon!

The way I'm gonna do this I think is, I'll put down a list of what I think is worth reading if you want to follow the IDW Prowl arc in a way that hits the main beats that wind up paying off in retrospect, with the luxury of examining the entire continuity from the vantage point of it being complete.

I'll also mark some of this stuff as "optional". Some of this is optional because it is not very relevant to the overall arc, or is out of sync with later depictions in some way; some of it is frankly just optional because it's bad, and forcing yourself to read endless shit TF comics is something that should never be demanded of anyone with limited time on this Earth if you aren't the kinda freak who wants to. LMAO.

Finally: I'm gonna write this as though it's for someone totally new to the whole thing. Because that way I can have fun infodumping. Hehe.

Below the cut is an excessively long explanation of what I would suggest and why. But the short, just-a-list version is:

[OPTIONAL] Transformers: Infiltration Spotlight: Kup [OPTIONAL] 99% of All Hail Megatron All Hail Megatron #15 specifically Last Stand of the Wreckers [OPTIONAL] Read all of Costa's run on the ongoing (#1-#31), inflicting horrific psychic damage on yourself Read just issues #8, #25-29 and Spotlight: Prowl The Death of Optimus Prime The early MTMTE Prowl stuff (#1, all of Shadowplay, #14) Robots in Disguise ("exRiD") in full Combiner Wars crossover event Sins of the Wreckers Titans Return crossover event [OPTIONAL] Requiem of the Wreckers Optimus Prime ongoing issues #1-7, #13-14, #22 Unicron (+ Optimus Prime #25)

[OPTIONAL] Transformers: Infiltration

Up front: Infiltration is a miniseries that is mediocre at its best and pretty bad at its worst IMO. It is, yanno. A Simon Furman comic, so.

Why am I putting this here anyway? One, it's the literal start of the IDW continuity and contains a shitton of stuff that will go on to be referenced through even comics like MTMTE. Two, it establishes Verity's character, which is obviously relevant for Wreckers later for our purposes here- and more specifically how she and Prowl actually know each other, which gives some context to their interactions. And three, it establishes the "original" Prowl characterization for IDW1, prior to Roche coming in and mucking about with him later on. Rather than be something which later retcons and developments undermine completely, this is more something where if you've been reading from the start, it makes it feel a bit less weird that every other character isn't constantly going 'why the fuck would we trust Prowl, though'. You get a sense of like 'oh OK, he was being Fucking Normal around them', haha.

Spotlight: Kup

Prowl is actually barely in this page time wise, but it still has big implications for stuff later down the line by way of setting stuff up, and since it is 1) only a single issue and 2) Actually Fucking Good, I'm putting it in. This issue works to help set up the eventual Prowl characterization we get, as well as his ties to both Springer and Kup. (Actually, I would generally say that if you've read Wreckers but not this, go back and give it a read, as it contextualizes a lot for the relationship between those three!)

[OPTIONAL] 99% of All Hail Megatron

This is a similar thing to Infiltration, really. Prowl is in it somewhat, it helps establish a kind of baseline characterization for him at this point in the comics. None of it is super important down the line but it gives more context if you want it for some later choices, and there's a few bits that establish stuff like e.g. his unpopularity with certain segments of the Autobots, that sort of thing. Also uhhh. Spike is in it! Y…ay. But I mean, he WILL be unavoidable in this overall trajectory; and he starts off here.

You can skip it though. Or skim it; again, it's soooo goddamn LONG. Sigh. You know, this series was what was coming out when I got into TF, it put me off IDW for years, hah.

All Hail Megatron #15, specifically

The one bit that's not optional because this is where his entire post-AHM characterization hinges, basically. The first half of this issue, which contains two 'coda' stories, is basically just one long inner monologue of Prowl showing himself to be someone who lies his ass off and manipulates people around him using his position and resources to do whatever he thinks is necessary, and it sets up a major plot point in Sins of the Wreckers with Kup and Springer. So, this is where Prowl goes from being kinda an asshole interpersonally to actually a war crimes man in-canon, haha. …well uh, sort of… we'll get to that later.

Last Stand of the Wreckers

Duh. He's not in this one as much as its sequel but this is still the first 'full' story to explore the version of Prowl detailed above and to cement him. He's an ambiguous little asshole whose presence in this story is less rooted in how much he shows up on the page proper, and more in how much his actions ripple out to effect other people.

Also like. Last Stand is great, it's just a good comic! Treat yourself to a (re)read sometime. Especially with the extras and the like.=

[OPTIONAL] Read all of Costa's run on the ongoing (#1-#31), inflicting horrific psychic damage on yourself

Prowl is in Costa's run of TF and it ties in to the above, sometimes controversially! It seems he was something of an author's favourite, honestly. Anyway it's awful. Actually doing this is a terrible idea. Costa's run of TF sucks so bad it actually kind of fascinates me, but 31 issues of terrible, badly-paced comics is way too much for most people, and rightly so.

The thing is though, Barber DOES pick up on stuff from this run in his exRiD stuff. He often makes sure to try and reintroduce it so you don't have to have read the Costa run to get it, but there genuinely is more stuff in there than you might assume given how much the fandom as a whole would go on to mostly just sort of ignore it. This includes with Prowl, who Costa seems to have latched on to a bit.

Of course, mooost of this run isn't about Prowl. So instead of doing a whole re-read, you can just read…

Read just issues #8, #25-29 and Spotlight: Prowl

Issue #8 is not actually an issue with Prowl in it. It's the issue where Spike kills Scrapper. This matters both because it gets picked up in Costa's run later, and also because Barber is gonna lean hard on a storytelling opportunity for this in early exRiD. Also, this issue is really awful, but will instill in you a loathing of IDW Spike that I think is part of being a well rounded person.

Spotlight: Prowl also sucks. It's basically a comic that exists because Costa didn't want to write the new Prowl characterization but everyone got mad he retconned it for his comic, because the Roche take from AHM's coda was wayyyy more popular than Costa's 'idealistic sort-of-noir-ish-not-really cop' take. Spotlight: Prowl tries to give an in-universe explanation for Prowl's complete personality 180 by giving us a story about how Humans Are Super Special or whatever. However, Barber doesn't retcon it, and in fact will treat this as an important if brief moment in Prowl's life in exRiD.

Issues #25-#29 are the 'Police Action' storyline which involves Prowl finding out about the above murder and confronting Spike about it. This betrayal will be something Barber also leans into very hard, though he's gonna recontextualize it a bit. Similar to the above, all this stuff is gonna get mixed up by Barber into a big old 'Prowl's having Issues around projecting his hopes for being better onto humans and getting burned' later on. So retrospectively, this is when Prowl's most recent attempt to turn a new leaf goes sour, in-universe.

The Death of Optimus Prime

This is the prelude to both MTMTE and exRiD and is sometimes overlooked when people talk about phase two these days. It sets up the new, phase two status quo for the ongoings. This is your introduction to Prowl as written by Barber and Roberts.

The early MTMTE Prowl stuff

Read the first issue, Shadowplay in its entirety, then at least issue #14 (the mnemosurgery/flashback one) from the Overlord arc. I talk about these on here all the time, whatever, you know the drill, it's Prowl And Chromedome Are Awful Exes ft. War Crimes AND Regular Crimes! Roberts has a take on Prowl that is actually pretty distinct IMO, it's fun to read alongside Roche and Barber's work in this period. They're not totally out of sync with each other, just... individual. (Sidenote: this, combined with a chunk of IDW1 fandom not reading exRiD in full or honestly at all, means that IMO a lot of disagreement over Prowl boils down to folks only knowing the Prowl in this comic and taking it as fully representative of the whole canon. Shrug.)

Robots in Disguise ("exRiD")

AKA 'the phase two ongoing where Prowl was one the main characters' so yeah, this one, obviously. This is where like… a good 70% of the Prowl stuff is in IDW, honestly. Anyway, Prowl is especially in focus at the start, where Barber gives us a lot of focus on him in the aftermath of the Earth stuff Costa did with him. The first arc of his runs through issue #16, the end of 'season one' before Dark Cybertron starts. (exRiD has a lot more arcs overlapping at once than MTMTE does, so its arcs tend to run along more issues as they take turns.) But he's around the whole time basically, right through to the end of Barber's time on IDW1. If you want to talk IDW1 Prowl, you basically gotta read everything Barber did with him. And if you want to understand it, you ought to read it fully.

(Note: exRiD underwent mandated name changes etc that mean at some point, the collected editions turn into 'The Transformers'. Use tfwiki if you get confused, haha. Also, Dark Cybertron gets its own trades as a crossover event- but that's the one everyone remembers, so I'll put it here. Buuut speaking of this comic being confusing...)

The Combiner Wars event, which includes but is not limited to exRiD, oh god this comic is so complicated.

There's an event that's set mostly around the exRiD parts of phase two called Combiner Wars. It includes some exRiD issues but is collected in a seperate trade called "Combiner Wars" and crosses over with the Windblade comics. Spoiler alert, Prowl is very important in it, because it deals with combiners and in exRiD he became a combiner. It's also kind of a mess because errrr, a HUGE amount of it was editorially mandated and in multiple cases basically required backtracking and retconning stuff to make work within what was requested for advertising purposes. Not... the series' highest moment, but there you go.

Sins of the Wreckers

Yaaaaay it's the Prowl divorce story! My favourite one!!! Anyway, you can actually read this one whenever after LSotW. The Wreckers stories exist as their own thing really. But this falls soooometime around, oooh, middle of exRiD, gestures at Combiner Wars, etc etc. (Basically: SotW was written while the ongoing was coming out, obviously, and by the time it was complete and being released, the timeline got a bit wobbly, so nailing it down to a super specific timeline in-universe is a bit 'eh'. The final page of SotW #5 was edited to reflect this but just read it sometime after CW, it's fine, whatever.)

This series actually has like. No meaningful impact on the broader universe's plot. But it has so many crimes and schemes! And divorce! And the one big thing: it's when Arcee gets properly sick of Prowl, after their relationship in exRiD was established throughout that comic's run up to this point.

The Titans Return event, mostly for the MTMTE bits, which I guess a lot of people skipped???

Same as CW except, thank god, smaller scale. Has its own trade, and the main bit of interest winds up being that the last two issues of MTMTE before it relaunched as LL were issues with Prowl in focus as part of this event. Apparently some folks reading MTMTE in trades these days have nooo idea these two issues exist because they're in a totally separate trade, oops. Anyway, Roberts puts Prowl on the moon and picks up some dangling MTMTE plotlines. TR makes no sense but these specific issues are fun because they are ridiculous in a way that is enjoyable to read if you just ignore the plot.

[OPTIONAL] Requiem of the Wreckers

...OK, fine, he's not really in this one. You should take the excuse to read it and conclude the Wreckers saga though, I mean. Why not.

Optimus Prime ongoing issues #1-7, #13-14, #22

I'm being nice and not telling you to read all of the OP ongoing even though I kinda want to. A lot of folks skipped out on that comic, even folks who liked exRiD, for a great many reasons. So I'll keep it to the essentials. The first arc includes some flashbacks to Prowl's early association with Orion and gives some insight into Barber's take on his backstory; he's not in every single one of those issues, but you may as well read 'em all, it's a full story. #13-14 is when Prowl comes back from his moon vacation and re-enters the exRiD playing field. And #22 is the issue that features Prowl that leads into Unicron, and. Well.

Sidenote: if the plots don't make sense this is pretty normal, and might not be meaningfully changed by reading the whole series, I'm not gonna lie.

Unicron (+ Optimus Prime #25)

Read the Unicron miniseries! It's what finishes off the IDW continuity and, crucially, is Barber's grand finale. Lost Light had its own ending where everything was at something of a remove, as a series that was able to exist a little more as its own thing. The other series, however, had Unicron. Prowl's in it, he does stuff. Some people hate this miniseries, I really like it, regardless it's the capstone to the entire segment of the comics Prowl has been a major player in. And then read Optimus Prime #25, the IDW1 universe's epilogue of sorts, which ties it up not so much in plot terms but thematically. Prowl gets his last word in there.

---

'James', you may ask. 'Did you know all this off the top of your head???' Of course not; I had to look up some of the issue numbers. Anyway, if you need a ludicrously specific reference list of stuff worth checking for specifcially IDW1 Prowl across the 17 odd years of IDW comics, here it is, for no good reason. Does this reading list result in a coherent story? No, but it does give you maximum schemes per page, I guess.

[twigwing]

tell me about sally

SALLY IS ACTUALLY UNFORTUNATELY A BIT OF A BLIND SPOT FOR ME cuz i haven't watched a lot of AoStH or SatAM and haven't read a lot of the Archie comics... at her best, she's super cool though! she was used uhhhhh Poorly for most of archie's run, just acting as A Girl for sonic (and sometimes other male characters) to "win" or "lose" (rugh.) and... generally being misunderstood and mistreated by the men writing her (the team that came after the "original batch" of writers had their own problems writing characters esp women too but that's a whole other thing i again don't have too much authority on since i've read a series of VERY random archie issues over the past 12 years, mostly from the Tracy Yardley era and Sonic Universe actually lol)

at her core though, sally has always been that kind of "kick-ass royalty" type you get out of girls in media from the time period. active member of the cast, smart, funny, cool, realistic when needed, kindhearted but not foolish, a little exasperated by Oh You Boys. she's also always been sonic's girlfriend/love interest, which i feel like some people aren't aware of and think sonally is just from archie? they're if not outright dating just very comfortable and flirtatious with each other (they're childhood friends!) in SatAM. i actually had a couple episodes on again while doing dishes recently and there was a scene where sonic and sally kiss and their friends are just like standing around waiting for them to stop LMFAO

uhh i put images in here and they made the post really long so i'm gonna put a break

i know even Less about AoStH sally... apparently they're officially dating according to the SNN? also, she's pink, and i hate it

SHE LOOKS SO MUCH MORE GIRLNAKED IN PINK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i do love that she's naked though. pave the way for clothesless female animal chracters girl... a legend... an icon.... unfortunately an icon who was slowly given clothes to hide her Heinous Female Form (i'm joking) over time

for the longest time she just had this little vest though still chest out. go girl go. the little vest was sooo Gender to me as a kid. also her archie eyebrows!!

as sad as i am that they covered her up, i do think her post-reset archie outfit is super cool!!!

i take a lot of cues from this sally as well as the Sonic Riders design ethos when dressing my own sonic ocs actually! she's so sporty and fun, i love her. her bright red hair is really nice too, imo. she lost her eyebrows though :(

her archie designs.... oooo she is suuuuuuuch a little gender envy sapphic to me LMFAO. bi legend...

i feel like moooost people know this by now but sallicole... it is Real... they couldn't make it real real for real for real but god these girls...

their designs look good together i feel... <3

mmmm i forget what the point was. but yeah, unfortunately i don't know much about sally's use in canon/spinoff material... but what i've seen of her i really like (other than the royalty thing though, i don't like sonic(the character)'s world having a rigid political system especially one based on royalty sorry LMFAO. it's weird!! and also enabled a lot of wack writing for sally in archie!!!) she's a really fun character when written well and given a proper role, and i think she's a really neat companion for sonic (not necessarily romantic... their dynamic is really fun when it isn't bogged down by boring love triangles, they bounce off each other well). i think the idea of sonic having a childhood friend like sally is really neat, especially when you add tails to that history. weird little misfit friendfamily

unfortunately, sally probably won't ever be used officially again. i know the IDW team especially Ian Flynn really want to... but if they did, they wouldn't ever be the same as they were before due to the agonies sadly, and IDW does have a good amount of characters similar to sally now (though i will NEVER say no to more cool girls. in fact give me more. outnumber the cool boys, i demand it). but still! it'd be neat to see her in action in official material again. for now though, she and the rest of the freedom fighters are at narrative rest

but sally still remains a beloved part of the fandom! i still see fanart of her, and i see fans remixing current storylines and putting her and the other freedom fighters back into the cast. i'm glad that at least she hasn't been forgotten

[lucianalight]

This is more of a question for fanfiction, but I've noticed that there is a trend in making Loki an "absolutely lovely father" to whatever children or children figures he has in fics or headcanons. And I'm pretty sure this is more based of Tom Hiddleston's charm then anything else. While I enjoy them sometimes, I have a suspicion that MCU Loki would be a far less perfect father if he was based in canon. especially since his model of parenting would be Odin and Frigga. In fact his model of family is dysfunctional as hell, So I'm willing to bet cash he'd be a slightly dysfunctional father/mother.

If Thor1 Loki had been a father, what do you think his parenting style would be, in comparison to Dark World Loki?

This is an interesting question and I have to say I am one of those who headcanon Loki as an absolutely lovely father :D But you mentioned an interesting point too.

First let's talk about where this headcanon might have come from. Tom is a lovely human being, but imo for the most part his personality isn't the reason for this particular headcanon. I think this headcanon firstly is rooted in Norse mythology. Loki has many kids in myth. Sleipnir the eight legged horse, Fenrir the wolf, Jormunganrd the giant serpant, Hel, Narfi and Vali. In Lokasenna Odin also mentions that Loki once spent 8 winters on Earth as a woman and bore children. There is also a story in which Loki saves a child from a troll. I particularly like this take in regards to Loki and children in Norse mythology. There are also instances of Loki as a father in comics.

But can Loki be a good father based on MCU canon and his dysfunctional family history? It is true that people might repeat the style of parenting they experienced and continue the cycle of abuse. But it is not necessarily predetermined that you end up parent your children like your own parents. The key is having self-awareness and reflecting on your actions and also being aware of what your parents did to you.

What Loki experienced with his parents, was neglect and abuse from a narcissistic father who lied to him and favored his brother. Frigga was kind and cared about Loki and was close to him but she was an enabler for Odin. And Loki is aware of what's been done to him. He knows he's been neglected and disregarded by Odin. It's just that until knowing about his race, he thought Odin's behavior was his fault, that he's been doing sth wrong that he was never seen and accepted like Thor. That's why he said "It's all make sense now. Why you favored Thor all these years...". He has realized it wasn't about what he was doing wrong, it was about what he is. Even Frigga's usual excuses for Odin doesn't convince him. We also see in TDW how he stands up for himself against Frigga who is hypocritically guilt tripping him and defending Odin.

This awareness about Odin's brand of abuse and neglect won't let Loki do the same to his children. And if you look at his interactions with the people he loves, neglect is simply not sth Loki does. He loves people deeply and cares a lot, express his love for them, pays attention and care about their emotions. So imo he won't ever neglect his children or imitate anything Odin has done to him.

I think Loki's parenting style would be more like Frigga since he was close to his mother. He would be kind, understanding and praise his children's abilities. His flaws could probably be over-protectiveness and a tendency to hide things from them not to worry or hurt them. But I don't think he would hide things as important as their race like what Odin did. Because he says in the vault scene "You could have told me from the beginning. Why didn't you?". It shows that Loki knows that's the right thing to do, to not hide sth as important from a child.

There can be another flaw in his parenting before the events of Thor 1, and that imo is excusing Odin's actions like Frigga. Remember that Thor and Loki both regard Odin as their idol and want to be worthy in his opinion. So Loki might excuse Odin's actions if he does anything that upsets Loki's children. I also think it would have been really interesting if Loki had children in Thor 1. Because he wouldn't have so easily called or seen Jotuns as monsters. There is no way that Loki sees his children as monsters. So everything would be more confusing for him, or even slightly better? Because if his children who are Jotuns aren't monsters then other Jotuns can't be monsters as well.

This flaw, excusing Odin's actions, would be absent in TDW as Loki has fully realized Odin's hypocrisy and won't fall for any manipulation from him or Frigga again. On the other hand, he now tends to be more secretive about what has happened to him and might hide his emotions or his pain from his children more.

All in all, I'm in favor of the headcanon that Loki would be an absolutely lovely parent but imo he will have some flaws as well, since no one is flawless. But it will never be anything to the extend of what his parents has done to him.

[uweiy]

I'm intrigued by Love is Science? but know nothing about it. Can you give me a run down on what kind of thing to expect and who it might appeal to? Thank you!! 😁

Ooooo boi *gremlin smile* I'm glad you asked. You've entered the dragon's den, broken the dam and thus this post turned out to be a monster so I'm gonna link here another post from @accidentallyadramablog which imo gives a nice (and short) overview.

That said let's get into

Love is Science?

Summary :

Yan Fei is a the CEO of the Love is Science marriage agency, that matches people based on scientific data. Hsuan Yu, 8 years younger than her, is a promising young hairstylist who has been in love with her thoughout their entire childhood when she has only ever seen him like a little brother.

Unexpectedly they meet again. Between the way they've each built their lives and how Yong Yan Fei's ex husband still looms over Yan Fei's life, how will their relationship develop this time around ?

Now,

just reading that summary I know what you're thinking.

Indeed, if you have some experience with dramas, you might recognize some TYPICAL TYPICAL tropes – let's get them out of the way :

love triangle (though we all know who she is going to end up with don't we)

childhood friends

'noona romance'

And they are every bit as present and as trope-ey as you would expect.

However, as they say, the devil is in the details.

And particularly, in the side characters. Let me give you a quick rundown of the lot of them :

As such, we follow the stories of multiple relationships that develop parallel to one another.

The relationships

• Yan Fei/ Hsuan Yu : Not much needs to be added I think. Their storyline might be the most predictable but they are pretty sweet and heartwarming. pining for like 12 years though poor Hsuan Yu. Anyway you can enjoy it or find it boring or but you can't hate it.

• Mark/Ouwen : Noooow we're getting to it. Their dynamic is so... Refreshing and unique. Confident gay with a soft heart and dumb disaster bisexual I mean *chef kiss*👌delicious

After the disasters of their first meetings, it's a cat and dog relationship where Ouwen is the hsssssss don't touch me– cat and Mark is the golden retriever trailing after him not really realizing the rampage he's creating in Ouwen's heart. while Ouwen is like "Remind me why the FUCK I caught feelings again ?".

IDK it just has everything 'Enemies' to friends to lovers, (not actually) unrequited love, pining, sweet moments, jealousy, feelings realization, snarky banter... What more could one want.

• Cho Nai Hui / You Fu : they are. So. So sweet. Both are older and have experience, and as such they are not so naive or stupid as the youngsters. Them sharing their life experiences and going on dates like typically teenagers (in movies or TV shows anyway) would is refreshing to see and really really heartwarming.

• Liu Sheng Ying/ ??? Her ex ? : The show hinted at a wlw storyline and this arc seems to have JUST begun. Basically Sheng Ying's ex comes to Love is Science as a client and requests Sheng Ying as an advisor, while Sheng Ying still seems heartbroken over her. I can't WAIT to see how it develops.

The friendships :

Something I greatly appreciate is that both the romantic relationships AND the friendships have a great importance in the drama.

• Joanna and Yan Fei : Jo, queen Jo 👑. She's just here to gossip, get all the gossip and be the voice of reason and we love her for it. You can see how comfortable they are around each other and how they were there for each other during tough times and still are. Kudos to the actresses because I believed the characters were besties in a heartbeat.

• Hsuan Yu and Mark : they are honestly... Such polar opposites you kinda wonder how they became friends but they are and it works perfectly.

Hsuan Yu still hasn't gotten he maybe shouldn't take Mark's advice, and Mark still hasn't gotten that he, definitely should take Hsuan Yu's. It also enables to develop a more playful and mischievous side to Hsuan Yu, giving him more depth?

• Ouwen and Sheng Ying: rivalry to reluctant solidarity to friends-but-i-will-deny-it-if-asked to just friends. IT'S GREAT

I also ejoy the fact that these multiple storylines are allowed to coexist. The romantic ones, the friendships, older, younger, m/f m/m and f/f like take your pick !! And tbh a WLW storyline ?????? These are so scarce I will take anything.

The recurring themes :

The show more or less subtly touches on some topics/issues, to which the dating aspect contributes to.

A non exhaustive list would be

Divorce, and how divorced women can be viewed as failures for some reason

How successful men over 30 are sought after but successful women after 30 are somehow deemed undatable

Preconceived notions and homophobia

And beyond the topics, there's just things like... Joanna not being interested in long term relationships nor wanting to get married, reporting sexual harassment, older people going on dates.... I'm not saying it's a groundbreaking activist drama –which is not really what I was looking for– I just appreciate the fact that it is a pretty mainstream drama and that these things are there.

Mad respect if you've made it up to here ! but we're not quite done yet.

The cast and crew :

The other element that made this drama stand out for me besides the side characters is the cast.

It might be weird that such a meta thing impacts the appreciation of the show but it did, for me at least.

📣📣TMI WARNING 📣📣

For me what happened is I stumbled onto Mark and Ouwen cuts on YouTube, then somehow onto the behind the scenes. They weren't subbed at the time so I could barely understand a word of what they were saying, thus I'm not sure what but something about how the rest of the actors, the director and the crew were interacting just told me it was a show worth watching or at least checking out.

📣📣END OF TMI📣📣

The cast honestly seems to have a blast and to have, how to say it, come together really well. It seems like most of them have become genuinely friends, or despite differences in personality have truly enjoyed working with one another and with the rest of the crew, and it shows.

Where it's lacking

In my opinion the show does have some aspects where it underperforms.

As previously mentioned, the main plot is kinda tropey, furthermore, in a drama typical fashion when something is about to get resolved, immediately something else happens. Nothing unexpected from a drama though.

The pacing : Some moments of the main plot especially dragged on, so I admit I skipped through some parts.

Because I feel so strongly about all the characters though, I don't really mind the previously mentioned points. I just think it's a shame because I feel like if it had been crafted a little bit better it could have made the show go from an 8/10 good drama to an 11/10 friggin amazing drama easy.

Lastly, there is a pretty unequal time distribution so Yan Fei and Hsuan Yu do tend to occupy the most part of an episode. However some episodes are more centered on some pairings (like ep 11 that will probably have an important Mark/Ouwen part).

Overall

it's a drama that warms my heart, as simple as that. It's not that deep, it's pretty funny, the acting ranges from good to excellent and I have taken a liking to a lot of the characters, which is what I think fuels my interest for the drama.

And I feel like it managed to attract a wide range of audiences because the romances and relationships are so diverse. Whether you watch the show for its entirety or for one aspect/storyline/character is entirely up to you and I feel like the creators of the drama are aware of it as well : and you can easily find subbed compilations about each specific pairing on Settv's official YouTube channel.

Take that aspect that you like–if you find one of course–and enjoy it, that is all ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

What's left to say besides.... 🎉🎊 Congratulations for making it to the end of this lengthy post !

[hilichurlrights]

xinyan is so slept on I'm glad she gets the love she deserves here! also I've been trying to main kaeya for a while but cant quite match the dmg of some of my other dps characters :( if it's not to much trouble could you share ur favorite build if u have one or any tips on building a kaeya team :0?

No problem at all, I love talking about my favorite characters! Xinyan best girl, Kaeya best husband, IMO, since he’s free and pretty easy to build, and, you know, daddy issues, hot, same bestie. I find he can easily out-dps a lot of my other characters, but it can be tricky knowing how best to build him.

Anyone can check my builds on 4* characters at any time by checking my in-game profile, under the name 坟墓 (Graves). My UID is 614130026. Unfortunately my friends list is already full, but feel free to request a visit to my Serenitea Pot or message me here on Tumblr with questions about builds. For reference, I am NOT a whale, but I do purchase the $10 battle pass most months, which comes with a lot of resources and a few extra wishes, enabling me to level a lot of weapons and characters quickly.

Here’s my current build and team:

My Kaeya build is for physical dps. This is not a freeze team. Kaeya cleaves through small enemies in one or two hits, and produces consistent damage over time (DoT) against bosses. His auto-attacks hit between 3-8k, his charged attacks 5-10k, his short plunge attacks 10-15k, his skill 7-8k, and his ult 2-3k/hit repeated over time.

This team requires some initial setup (Zhongli skill, Barbara skill, Albedo skill, dps window), but little switching throughout, with long windows for Kaeya to do continuous damage. This build is weaker against enemies with physical resistance (i.e. the geovishap family), and is not viable on Spiral Abyss floors 9-10, since it takes too much time to break cryo shields.

Here’s some general tips for building Kaeya:

1. He’s best at physical dps, but he can excel in cryo support or even cryo dps with Chongyun’s cryo infusion. His auto-attack scaling is among the highest in the game, and his ult does some of the best DoT. His teleportation is exceptionally useful against interrupting enemies, or to pull him closer to enemies that are spread out.

2. With Summit Shaper, his ideal build is 2p gladiator, 2p physical, with Zhongli on the team. Albedo is good to buff shield strength and produce extra ticking geo damage. This does not work as a freeze team. Ideal 4th character is a damage booster (Mona, Bennett, Rosaria) or a healer, with cryo resonance for extra crit (Diona, Qiqi, Barbara). This team requires Zhongli, but can work (albeit less effectively) with another strong shielder, like Noelle or even Albedo with crystallize.

3. With Aquila Favonia or Primordial Jade Cutter (best weapons for Kaeya), his ideal build is 2p gladiator, 2p physical, and his team should include Lisa or another electro character for superconduct resistance shredding, a damage booster to keep up his DoT (Bennett, Mona, Rosaria), Albedo or Xingqiu for ticking damage, or hydro characters for a freeze team. This build does work for freezing enemies, as long as it does not include Albedo or Zhongli.

4. With Skyward Blade, Kaeya can use 2p gladiator 2p physical for a physical damage build, or 2p blizzard strayer 2p noblesse oblige for a cryo damage build. This build does work for freezing enemies, as long as it does not include Albedo or Zhongli. This build works for both dps and cryo support.

5. Among the 4* weapons, most imitate a 5* weapon and are used the same. Prototype Rancour (forgeable), The Flute (gacha), Sword of Descension (PlayStation only), and Black Sword (bp) stand in for Aquila Favonia or Summit Shaper. Festering Desire, Sacrificial Sword, and Favonius Sword are all good for cryo support builds. His best 4* weapons are Prototype Rancour (physical), The Black Sword, (hybrid), and Festering Desire (cryo).

6. Among 3* weapons, Cool Steel rivals some late-game weapons for cryo infusion/support. Harbinger of Dawn, Skyrider Sword, and Fillet Blade are good for early game, but should be replaced once you have a suitable 4* weapon.

7. Kaeya excels at freeze teams. He can be built for physical damage, but prefers a cryo dps build (4p blizzard strayer) with cryo infusion from Chongyun. Kaeya performs much better than the similar character Rosaria in this capacity. His ideal team is Chongyun, Xingqiu, and a damage booster (Bennett, Mona, or electro for superconduct). This team works with any cryo/hydro combination, but if reliant on Tartaglia, it may work better with Tartaglia hydro dps and cryo support Kaeya.

8. Kaeya does NOT play well with the following characters: dps Ganyu (her ult is good support for him, but he can’t support a long-range play style), Xiao (Kaeya’s ult has a hard time reaching enemies), Ningguang (again, ranged play style), Yanfei (ranged), and Klee (ranged). He can be used with them anyways, and I am a big supporter of do whatever you want, but be aware that other characters have better synergy.

That’s about all I have. Kaeya is complex to build because he has so much potential to do very different things, and with new weapons and characters coming out left and right, all this information is subject to change. Feel free to check back in about how my Kaeya’s doing in future updates, and good luck!

[johnconstantinesdick]

Okay *cracks knuckles, accidentally dislocates fingers* @agentscamander-romanoff and @steel-phoenix took the bait and enabled me by asking me to elaborate on my Children of the Watch origins theory. Which means I am about to go ABSOLUTELY feral.

Apologies to anyone for having incorrect Star Wars lore, I’ve barely consumed canon content and I don’t intend to start now. Also sorry if anyone has already said this! I’ve never seen this particular theory/interpretation and it’s made me go a bit insane.

Warnings: discussion of child abuse, cults, and the aftermath of genocide. I don’t go super in depth on any of it but it’s there. Also, I typed this in the notes app of my phone and autocorrect hasn’t quite submitted to some of these names.

SO. I’m going to break this up into sections. 1. Exploring canon 2. Extrapolations/Connecting the red string 3. What does this MEAN??? 4. Complaining about Bo-Katan.

First off, though, here’s my thesis: Children of the Watch is a “splinter group” made up of the children that Death Watch stole, indoctrinated, and abused. They’re also not a cult (Death Watch is though lmao).

1. Exploring Canon:

Okay, so. Canonically, Death Watch has abducted, tortured, and brainwashed children. Arla Fett is an example of that, having been abducted at the age of 14 after her parents were killed and she was subsequently brainwashed into becoming an assassin for Death Watch. She didn’t even hesitate when she found out her brother was alive! That’s how strong the conditioning was! She was so fucked up from it that she spent YEARS in a mental facility, and she outright begged a Jedi to wipe her memories in exchange for a favor. DEATH WATCH DID THAT. And you CANNOT tell me she was the only one they’ve done this to. PLENTY of fic writers have extrapolated off of this and mentioned it, but it’s important to me that everyone know this shit is absolutely rooted in canon.

Another Death Watch Child Abuse Fun Fact: Dred Priest and Isabet Reau, two of the trainers of the clones, canonically had Death Watch leanings and tried to instill Death Watch beliefs in the clones by FORCING THEM TO FIGHT EACH OTHER IN SECRET BATTLE CIRCLES THAT ENDED UP KILLING SOME OF THE CLONES. THEY WERE CHILDREN AT THE TIME, IF IT WASN’T CLEAR. WHAT THE FUCK. If THAT’S not an example of Death Watch abusing the kids under their care then I don’t know what is. It’s suuper not a stretch for me to think that this wasn’t an unheard of thing in more official Death Watch circles.

Also canonically, Bo-Katan has referred to Din’s covert as “Children of the Watch”, and Din, despite obviously being an important and respected member of his community, doesn’t recognize the name, which implies to me that it’s not a name the covert chose for themselves. Rather, a moniker that was given to them after they splintered off of Death Watch. Since this isn’t an opinion and it’s more just… information, I’ll trust Bo-Katan on this one.

We also know for sure that Din’s covert IS connected to Death Watch in some way, seeing as the flashback sequence very clearly shows Mandalorians in blue and gray beskar’gam, the colors of Death Watch. HOWEVER… the Armorer, who seems to hold a high position of authority in the covert, wears gold and copper beskar’gam. Din wears unpainted (v2) or mismatched colored (v1) beskar’gam (I do grant that his paint color counts less towards this because he’s pretty much one of the only people interacting with the outside world and so colors associated with Death Watch are probably a no go no matter what). Paz Vizsla’s armor is a very dark blue with yellow and cyan details and, oh my fucking god I didn’t even know this but he has a fucking MYTHOSAUR SYMBOL ON ONE OF HIS PAULDRONS. THE FUCK???? THAT’S LITERALLY THE SYMBOL OF THE TRUE MANDALORIANS IM. Ok. Okay. I needed a minute. Like I KNOW that the mythosaur skull is Mandalorian symbol in general but I think it just hits different when a Vizsla is wearing it, you know? Especially because the placement is the same as Jaster Mereel’s???? Literal founder of the True Mandalorian movement????? Excuse me???????

Let’s uh. Let’s get back to armor. I can address that… later. So. Anyway. Armor is super important, and it’s uhhh very telling that the covert doesn’t emulate the Death Watch colorscheme strictly. Like, yeah, there’s gray and light blue in there, if you go through some wiki pages, but they’re not the only colors they use, and the Armorer doesn’t even have either of those colors! And she’s the biggest authority we’ve seen! Very fucking interesting!! Bo-Katan still has her armor painted in Death Watch colors! And yet she’s derisive of Din’s covert! Verrry interesting!

We also know that Din’s covert emphasizes children VERY much, more than Death Watch ever would have, imo. It’s expected for the adult members to provide for the foundlings (and it’s VERY interesting that the kids are seemingly all referred to as foundlings iirc. More on that later.), and even though Paz disagrees with Din working with the empire, he and the other members of the covert immediately and with no hesitation come to Din’s aid for this child that Din hasn’t even claimed as his own—it’s amazing! And I will note that Bo-Katan and her warriors do the same upon their initial meeting with Din—Koska dives into danger with no hesitation as soon as Din says the child is still in danger. We see that this solidarity does come at a price for Bo-Katan, though, while the Armorer sees protecting a foundling as a duty that is completely worth all the trouble it brought.

Fascinating also that Boba was 100% on board to help out Din to save Grogu past what Din or anyone else would have expected of him, while Bo-Katan had to be bribed into coming by the promise of Moff Gideon and the darksaber. And she thinks she’s somehow more Mandalorian than him.

And NOW, going way back in time to the beginnings of the True Mandalorian movement, we know that Jaster Mereel originally authored his Supercommando Codex by looking back through history to the Canons of Honor and the Resol’nare, and he took those ideals and ideas and he modernized them to create a set of moral guidelines to follow. And people loved that shit! Death Watch had to infiltrate the True Mandalorians and then trick the Jedi into slaughtering them just to get rid of them, because Jaster’s charisma and his sexy sexy morals were too strong. (God. I fucking LOVE Jaster Mereel if you couldn’t tell.) Anyway, there’s precedent for Mandalorians looking back to their history to bring forth old ideas, repurposed to a modern context. We also know that, canonically, Din’s covert follow the “old ways” of not sharing names and of never taking their helmets off in front of others.

Moving on.

2. Extrapolations/Connecting the red string:

So if we extrapolate from the fact that Death Watch are, uh, super fucking abusive towards the kids that they stole/their own kids, then we’re left with… this group of kids, who have been mistreated and indoctrinated for a LONG TIME, and possibly don’t have that great an understanding of non-toxic Mandalorian culture. And if they’ve been abducted or rescued, whatever, they might not fit back in with the places they were taken from, or they may not have a place to go back to, or they may not even remember where they’re from originally. It’s some prime angst material! Good stuff.

And if we pull the implication from the names that “Children of the Watch” is a splinter group off of Death Watch, it really does make you think… huh, you know what? These two things may be one in the same. Maybe.

And, like, we know that Jaster Mereel and Din’s covert both looked to Mandalorian history to find pillars for their community’s morals. Jaster did so in the middle of a lot of political turmoil, as a way to say “Hey, we can still be Mandalorians in the ways that matter, but being Mandalorian doesn’t mean being a morally bankrupt conqueror. We can have honor and still wear armor and fight and uphold the Resol’nare.”

And I think Din’s covert did so when they were struggling with unlearning the toxic ideals that had been shoved onto them by Death Watch. I think they had to figure out their own way of being Mandalorian or else they would have crumpled under the pressure. And so they looked back to the old ways and picked out the more extreme interpretation of Cin Vhetin (clean slate) which says that, once you swear the Resol’nare and become a Mandalorian, your past doesn’t matter, it’s what you do now that does. You don’t take off your helmet, and you don’t let others know your name, because those things don’t matter to who you are and what you do. (There’s also the issue of the helmet and name rule being an important defense tactic to protect the covert, seeing as how Mandalorians post-Empire are the survivors of genocide. There’s already a fantastic post on it here)

Related, another Mandalorian saying is “Gar taldin ni jaonyc; gar sa buir, ori'wadaas'la.”, meaning “Nobody cares who your parent was, only the parent you’ll be,” which IMO fits in very nicely with how I’m interpreting Din’s covert. It’s all about your actions and future mattering more than your past. I think that when the covert was splitting off and being built, this would be a huge component of them healing. Because the way they were treated and indoctrinated by Death Watch doesn’t have to affect their future actions. They don’t have to perpetuate the cycle of abuse, they can build a covert and a community around caring for foundlings.

Now, onto the foundlings! I find it very interesting that, whenever the covert’s younglings are mentioned, it’s always as foundlings. I think this implies that there’s a focus on saving and raising children more than there is on sharing blood with them, and I think that the covert would be more inclined towards communal raising than typical family units, if only to keep everyone in check and to protect the children from ever being treated as they were. I also find it VERY interesting that there’s a lot of emphasis put on returning children to their own kind. I don’t think Death Watch would have employed that practice, and I think that’s another example of the covert wanting to make their community a better place for children. I think it’s likely a lot of them didn’t get that choice, and they had to leave their cultures and people behind. And so they want to give that choice to their children.

I think it’s also amazing that, like. They keep finding and raising children instead of deciding they’re too damaged or whatever to have kids. Because it doesn’t matter if they have baggage or trauma when a child needs them. That’s FANTASTIC. I’m losing my MIND. It really doesn’t matter who their parents were to them, just the kind of parents they will be. It’s all about breaking that cycle and deciding to be better and I LOVE THAT.

3. What does this MEAN???:

Well. What this means is that Din’s covert has a very clear set of motivations and structure when it comes to how their covert is run. It’s not a cult; in fact it is specifically a group created by cult survivors who are determined to not do to others what was done to them. The rules may seem weird and strict at first glance, but they have a clear purpose and rationale, and no one is trying to amass power. They’re just… trying to do better, and be better.

(This also means that I’m 99% sure that, with the assistance of time travel, at least half of the covert would be SUPER INTO Jaster Mereel. I like to imagine that Paz had, like, a poster of him on his little sewer bedroom wall. I fully believe he painted that mythosaur skull on his pauldron in honor of a good man who was killed by Paz’s own relatives for standing by his morals and daring to try to reform and rally Mandalorians. I also think it would be funny if, like, Din doesn’t know shit about ANYTHING to do with modern history, but Boba mentions that his grandfather is Jaster Mereel and Din is like “OH I KNOW THAT GUY! Yeah he’s cool, he’s the historical crush of like, my entire covert.” And Boba is like. What.)

It also means that it can be up in the air about whether Din was found by Death Watch before his covert splintered off, or if his covert was still just wearing Death Watch colors when he was found. Fun thing to play around with, but right now I don’t want a solid timeline.

Hmm just thought I should add: while the Armorer does seem to have a position of authority, I don’t think the covert can be structured politically with clans and houses like other Mandalorian groups. Like, clan just means family in this context, and is less a part of hierarchy, and I don’t think they would even recognize houses within the covert? Like they MIGHT decide to call themselves part of House Djarin now that Din is Mand’alor, but before that they weren’t like. House Vizsla with Paz as the leader just because they used to be Death Watch. I don’t vibe with that. This isn’t really super relevant, I just wanted to add it.

4. Complaining about Bo-Katan:

Anyway Bo-Katan is absolutely full of shit and it’s doubly disgusting that she’s standing there in Death Watch armor, seemingly still allied to this fucking cult of imperialism and conquest, and she accuses Din of being in a regressive cult, and she implies that the way he engages with the Resol’nare is wrong and like. Repressed or something. God I hate Bo-Katan. But I love to hate her. She’s horrible but I want her to be included in the list of Din’s friends but not the list of people he’d trust his kid with. I have contradictory Bo-Katan feelings, whatever. The most important thing is that all of her opinions are horrible, like, all the time. And we shouldn’t trust her when she says Din’s part of a cult. Literally why does anyone take that at face value. If we’re taking her word as the authority on Mandalorian issues then I guess Boba and Jango aren’t Mandalorian!!! Seriously.

TLDR; Din’s covert (aka “Children of the Watch”) is made up of survivors of childhood abuse, torture, and brainwashing at the hands of Death Watch, and they’re dedicated to making sure their children don’t go through the same thing. They’re not a cult, but Death Watch sure was! Jaster Mereel is the love of my very aromantic life and Bo-Katan’s opinions can’t be trusted. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[justagirlsearchingforamuse]

I do kind of like Elliot but he is also so mysterious and private in his own ways, we don’t know anything about his past, his family, or much about him as a person. Even his relationships and I feel he was simply brought into the show to get with Jules as much as I believe she was in a vulnerable state and she made the choice to sleep with him, I feel the lie and the drama and issues they already had in their relationship was there. But they brought in this random ass man who he didn’t break them up but rather just had a hand in it. Imo at worst Elliot is an enabler and a negligent friend at least but I feel people wanna ignore the fact that Rue mostly liked him because he supplied her with drugs, he often supported her bad habits and encouraged her to do risky things. He says they may not bring out the best in each other and she’s fine with that, she’s the one who’s been lying about doing drugs and she was the one who trusted him with that. Even then I feel him telling Jules was less about getting in Jules’s pants than it was about their relationship getting more serious and there’s more drama than he’d like in their relationship. If he never told Jules and just slept with her and kept that secret until Rue would’ve overdosed or whatever then he would be imo even worse because he actively saw a problem and continued to let it happen. Jules still actively cheated and that is a fact, she was unfaithful in her relationship but that isn’t what broke them up and that’s not what Rue was yelling at her for. Rue was fucking angry that she caused her to lose the drugs and put another obstacle in her path, it wasn’t about the cheating or problems in their relationship. It was about the drugs that threw her off. She’s also still mad that Jules and Elliot had intervened despite the fact that it could be saving her from another overdose. That if they never said anything, she might be overdosing or doing harmful things to get drugs. Rue isn’t the villain but people rarely if ever really hold her accountable and put all the blame on drugs as if she isn’t making active choices to gaslight her family, hang around people who encourage her drug addiction, and actively choosing to do a dangerous gamble with Laurie. Why is Elliot given so much criticism when she was the one who actively went through with it and out of Fezco’s and his advice, she took Elliot’s. The whole reason she liked having him around was because he supplied her drugs and encouraged her to do risky things and hell she even came into their relationship with making him lie about Rue doing drugs. Elliot isn’t innocent but the fact that people love to put a lot of the blame on him for things Rue actively chose to do, like getting mad he supposedly knew about Laurie’s drugs. First of all, no one but Ali and her mom saw that suitcase, he said it was good idea but the fact Fezco told her no repeatedly should’ve told her something. Them questioning where the drugs came from would get them into a world they know nothing about and imo it’s better they don’t know but the intention was to get all the drugs out of Rue’s possession. But even then, Rue will have to deal with the consequences of her actions, doesn’t mean I wish bad on her at all but just because she’s a drug addict doesn’t mean she can get away with everything. Like Suze is an alcoholic but does that mean she gets away with bad parenting because she’s suffering with a disease? No. I like Suze but the way her kids came out was some part of her fault especially after their dad left. But I feel both Rue and Elliot are equally to blame for shit turning out the way it did, it was 2 people who were bad influences on one another that didn’t end well at all and imo I hope they get better and stop using drugs. But imo Elliot is a teenager who was a bad influence on Rue and she was a bad influence on him. It just was a shitty friendship.

[bellaslilpapercut]

So I've been reading a lot of (read: all) of @ zalrb 's metas on TVD and relationships (not tagging her bc I know she doesn't care about twilight but if you like TVD check out her meta master list!!!) and it gave me the epiphany that twilight would have been so much more romantically poignant if only Edward had the frenzied feeding issue. (Adding a cut because I rambled a lot more than I meant to lol)

A few people have brought up before that the new moon party scene would have served the story better (in every way) if Edward had been the one to attack bella, not jasper, and I fully agree. It could still make sense if Jasper had some control issues (insofar as jaspers character being there makes any sense at all lol) but Edward fully should have been the one to attack Bella. It would make Bella’s nightmares, her trauma, and the moment she decides to save him anyway all the more impactful if she had actually seen Edward lose his shit at her scent. 

And as others have brought up, the dilemma in Eclipse would have been more impactful as well. Bree Tanner’s chapter would have actually had the effect on Bella that smeyer tried to feign. Bella would have more difficulty choosing vampirism for herself if she had seen her beloved Edward at his absolute darkest (rather than just hearing him tell her about his past killing sprees). 

As for what this would change for the other vampires, I don’t think it would really alter much. Carlisle could still have superior never-tasted-human-blood control, the others’ nonchalance at their past slip-ups would make even more sense because like, why feel bad about feeding from humans if none of them actually died. IMO it only really makes sense for Jasper, Alice, and Carlisle to not care much for human life: Jasper and Carlisle because they have been vampires for so long and Alice because she was “born” with no ties to her own humanity. (But obv bc of who Carlisle is as a character, he does still care for humanity.) 

Smeyer tells us repeatedly that her vampires are stuck in the mind they were turned with yet this is only really apparent in Carlisle and Rosalie. Both value human life greatly but in Rosalie’s case the circumstances of her turning enabled her to make the exception for the men (and two hired guards of the men) who raped and attempted to murder her. From what I remember, smeyer mostly emphasizes the hunger that comes with the transformation. Hunger alone is not enough to make a former human completely forgo their humanity- these people should be a lot more torn up about killing so many people especially “younger” vampires like Esme and Emmett, but both are canonically fine with it. 

Now, if vampires didn’t have to kill to feed, it’s a lot more understandable and furthermore makes the Cullens more likeable. She wants us to see them as caring but then tells us that they’ve all killed before for a meal and Carlisle literally had to force them to empathize with their victims. But if Edward is the only one that can’t feed without going into a frenzy, it makes a lot more sense. Esme and Emmett don’t really understand his position because it’s easy for them to feed from humans sometimes and then hop right off the bandwagon- no murder, no guilt. Rosalie doesn’t understand his hunger, Alice and Jasper don’t care much about human life at all, and Carlisle was perfectly controlled from the beginning. Now Edward’s angst also makes more sense, it isn’t just that he’s been surrounded by “perfect” couples, he’s surrounded by people who are far less monstrous than he even though all of them are vampires. 

Getting back to how this wouldn’t really change the worldbuilding either: the Volturi would still need to exist because presumably there would be more vampires like Edward who couldn’t help themselves, and other vampires who were sloppy about their feeding habits. (Okay I will admit that in a world where vampires don’t have to kill to feed, the Volturi don’t necessarily need to protect humanity as much but I do think the need would still be there because if vampires were discovered, it could still lead to a devastating war between the two groups with humans obviously at a disadvantage.) It would also make more sense as to why so many vampires are almost offended by the Cullen “diet.” As I mentioned, smeyer doesn’t say that her vampires can’t see humans as people or that turning into a vampire automatically makes you view humans as only a food source. A lot more vampires should be struggling with the need to kill humans in her world, especially when they are first turned, but from what I recall, they don’t. Even Bella doesn’t care that much at first when she is about to kill a random hiker but it should gut her (especially if she is as “good” as the narrative wants us to believe) that she wanted to kill a human. It should haunt her. 

But if vampires could feed without killing, obviously they wouldn’t give a damn about Carlisle’s diet. They would be hard pressed to try it. It would also make more sense to start seeing humans as meals nearly instantly because there wouldn’t be any internal turmoil. I could even see someone like Bella seeing vampirism as a step up ethically to humanity because when humans want meat, they have to kill. Vampires just have to take a little sip. Anyway that was a long winded way of saying: I think it would serve the story better if vampires didn’t have to kill to feed and I think it would fit well into the world smeyer built.

Now to return to Edward: if he is the only vampire Bella meets that genuinely struggles with feeding, that is haunted by the people he’s killed in the past, everything about his character and the “poignancy” of his love for Bella that smeyer tried to sell us fits into place a lot better. Bella could be the first human that truly sees Edward for all of what he is- especially after he attacks her- and still forgives and accepts and loves him regardless. This is one of the things that TVD did well with Stefan and Elena and why I believe them as a love story over Edward and Bella. In twilight canon, Edward overcomes his vampirism for Bella but he already had pretty good control until Bella “threatened” it (I put that in quotes because after Twilight, it isn’t portrayed as a big issue anymore) and other vampires are all overcoming the same shit, big whoop. Carlisle did the same exact thing for Esme, why would I believe that Edward and Bella are so much more in love? 

But if it was a unique struggle for Edward, I understand. If it was expressly Edward’s relationship with Bella that helped him overcome his self loathing and doubt, if she refused to see him as a monster after he actually showed her how monstrous he could really be, then I get it. As twilight is now, I have to roll my eyes when they say no one has ever loved anyone the same way because Carlisle/Esme and Rosalie/Emmett had the same obstacles in their way (albeit for a shorter period of time) and all have these same cravings as Edward with the same consequences as Edward and none of them are as torn up about it. Smeyer actually made Edward “better” at controlling his urges than most of his family because she didn’t see that for someone to be “tortured” in the way Edward is, they would need unique consequences, they would need a unique struggle that validated that emotionality Edward displays through all four books. It’s laughable when Edward calls himself a monster because, dude, everyone else is in the same boat and they’re fine! Grow up! You have to give him the context that would make that angst understandable and twilight just doesn’t do that. 

[akampana]

Continuation of this ask

Bedivere x Arturia - Ship it

What made you ship it?

TBH I was one of those few people who shipped it based on that like 2 second scene at the end of FSN. The Camelot Singularity just reinforced it. A lot came from the original Arthurian legend as well. Bedivere is similarly insanely loyal as he is in the game, and like in Fate lore, he’s been with Arthur longer than most.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

He journeyed so far for so long just to see her smile OH MY GOD BRB IM SOBBING HOLY CRAP CAN YOU JUST IMAGINE—

I’m a sucker for intensely loyal knights and I will always be. ALWAYS.

THE ANGST POTENTIALLLLLL but also THE FLUFF POTENTIALLLL

This man loved his king so bloody intensely. So strongly that his desire to see her survived the test of time. To be loved so much, so unconditionally for a thousand and a half years? Gods, that’s just too much, man. ;-;

And I absolutely adore how much it means to him to remain her knight, even if he tends to be insecure about the limb that he lacks, and how he believes he is nothing special in comparison with everyone else. I love that Arturia recognizes his strength and his worth, even if he himself can’t see it.

THE ENTIRE CONFRONTATION IN THE THRONE ROOM LET ME TELL YOU I WAS CRYING SOOOOO HARD THROUGHOUT THAT IK NIT EVEN KIDDING

THIS, the MINDBREAK Arturia goes through when she tries to remember

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I think that THIS SHIP NEEDS MORE LOVE AND I REALLY OUGHT TO CONTRIBUTE

All the other answers below cut!

Irisviel x Arturia - Ship It

What made you ship it?

I think I was bound to the moment I watched Fate Zero. When I was younger it was overshadowed by the feels Diarturia brought and not to mention Kiritsugu and Iri but this ship is damn good on its own.

What sold it though, is the argument she and Kiritsugu have in Episode 16, right after the last Saber and Lancer fight. Irisviel, who we all know loves her husband so much, forced Kiritsugu to answer Saber. That’s just how important Arturia was to her.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

I think they both found in each other something they themselves lack. It’s actually kind of funny. Arturia is human, and yet she’s so heavily consumed by her ideals that she doesn’t act like one. Irisviel, on the other hand, is not human, and yet everything that she does and wants to do is exactly that.

Throughout the anime, Being with Iri puts Saber into such mundane, ordinary situations that it teaches her to live. The suits, the escorting, being a passenger instead of a driver, appreciating the water by the seashore, etc. It's like the woman wants to leave her with some appreciation for the world, especially when she herself doesn’t have all that much time left.

On Irisviel’s part, I think she found in Saber the companionship she would have wanted from Kiritsugu during the last few days she remained on the Earth. Arturia had been the perfect knight in shining armor, taking Irisviel around to see the world as much as they could amidst a war. If they’d just had more time, I have no doubt Arturia would have taken Irisviel even more places, you know?

It makes me sad :( but in a good way.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I’m pretty sure Irisviel would wear the pants in this relationship ya know what I mean? Hahaha

Much as I love this ship, I think that it becomes all the more valuable because of how it ended. To each other, they were this brief, fleeting feeling of happiness. A love that was so short and yet so strong.

Shirou x Arturia - Don't Ship it

Hooooooo boi. Hear me out, mkay ? But this is just my personal opinion so pls no hate

Why don't you ship it?

I’m gonna start out by saying I don’t think I need to, tbh. Hahaha there’s enough content for this ship being fed to us, so my liking it or not is immaterial. But the reason is well...I watched FSN and Shirou x Saber was...not the best thing about it (the best thing about it was the soundtrack omg iconic) Shirou comes off as a bit of a misogynist, and kind of immature, and the whole time it’s like he doesn’t really listen to Arturia at all. Plus, it’s kind of like he just likes her looks at times. The final deciding factor was the date scene. That was just unbearable.

But then I go online and I see all this good stuff about them. And my friend ships them cause they’re canon, right? So, I’m like okay, what if I judged too quickly, let’s play the VN...and I did. And I still didn’t like him with Saber at all. So, I played the next route, watched the next anime, trying to redeem 1st route Shirou as much as I could but it just....didn’t happen. I think I can safely say I tried to like them. I really did. But no.

What would have made you like it?

Removing the misogyny and the immaturity and letting him listen to her. Like he should have.

At no point in their interactions did it feel like they were standing on equal ground, ever. Either he was speaking over her or the opposite. So less of that and a lot more respect.

And when you compare this relationship to what he has with like with his other two love interests, it makes this ship fall completely flat. It’s pretty...bland and honestly kind of shallow. It’s like the story just tells you they’re in love but there’s no answer to why they’re in love. Make him fall in love with her for her without necessarily forcing his need to save everyone on her.

Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

I may not like how they got there, but in the end Arturia was able to pass peacefully.

I acknowledge that Shirou was important and made a change in her life.

That ending scene where they meet after so long, NGL is pretty sweet.

A lot of my headcanons happen post-Shirou, so there’s also that.

Archer x Rin -Ship it

What made you ship it?

Tsundere x Cynic has gotta be one of the best dynamics out there.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

His true identity. The fact that she dragged him all the way across space and time to return as her Servant, that’s just bloody fate at work.

The fact that he keeps acknowledging she’s a strong Master despite his later conduct in UBW.

Archer is ridiculously crass and Rin is easily riled up. In the Fifth Holy Grail War, they had the best Master-Servant relationship period. They have this explosive chemistry that just works so well.

When he smiles at her at the end of the route, and you just know that Tohsaka’s gonna be stubborn enough to make sure Shirou doesn’t end up going down the exact same path.

I think it’s sweet that he ends up going along with her whims because he secretly likes housework.

THE PRINCESS CARRY/ CATCH. MAN OH MAN.

Unlike the previous ship mentioned here, these two actually stand on equal ground with each other.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I don't think it's exactly an unpopular opinion, but I think they really ought to have more official content y'know? Rin is important in every route, and Archer's the actual climax of UBW and also entirely significant across three routes.

Medusa x Sakura - Don't ship it

Why don't you ship it?

Because while journeying through the routes, I always saw Rider as more of a best friend/sort of motherly figure to Sakura.

Or that Rider fulfilled the kind of relationship that she wanted to have with Rin, while Sakura unknowingly filled the void Medusa's sisters left in her life. I thought she was more of a guardian angel really, not a romantic interest. Kind of like how Heracles was to Illya.

What would have made you like it?

If I could maybe forget about the threesome with Shirou and the implied romantic feelings Rider has for him in Ataraxia that would be great.

Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

Sakura deserves all the happiness in the world and I really do believe that Rider could fulfill that.

This ship DEFINITELY DEFINITELYYYYYY NEEDS MORE CONTENT

Diarmuid x Cú - Ship it

What made you ship it?

oooh this probably sounds surprising since based on my content you'd think, no i dont ship this BUT I DOOOOOOO (i just happen to hc them as bros more often)

Honestly what did make me ship it is the parallels.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

IMO They have the biggest potential for hurt/comfort amongst all the ships mentioned here.

They can help each other get through their trauma. Their whole relationship would be extremely healing and supportive.

I love that Diarmuid seems to have idolized Cú Chulainn at some point and honestly who wouldn't be honored to stand beside him, no?

They could be up to the funniest shenanigans because Cú is chaos and Diarmuid would absolutely be an enabler because when he isn't angst-ing he's super damn chill.

Bros being bros hahahah...unless?

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Not really. Maybe that I think Lancer Diar and Cascu would get along better and Saber Diar and Lancer Cu would also get along better but honestly any form is good this ship is good

[crossdressingdeath]

tbh i think one of the biggest issues in mdzs is false neutrality. standing aside while other sects get eaten, looking away when someone is dragged to be sacrificed, giving the reigns of post-war handling of prisoners aside entirely. equating a broken arm to a pierced gut, saying an impulsive, regretted moment of self sacrifice is the same as one deliberated upon. sect loyalty to innocent lives. looking away when xy was pardoned to not create any rifts. i think a lot of the time 1/6

theres reasonings! understandable but not excusable reasonings as to why inaction or insistence on compromise/peace/”neutrality” was preferable than picking a stance. but inaction doesnt make things inexcusable, ignorance is not innocence, and to be neutral is to be complicit, even if the outcome wasnt what they chose. a lot of the time theyre not to blame for the outcomes but that doesnt mean theyre not at fault. imo the ones who get it the harshest are the most neutral characters no matter 2/6

how good their intentions are. jyl, jzx, lxc i feel got it the worst? jzx looked away and ignored the problem until it blew up in his face. jyl stood aside and tried to be “neutral” for so long that her actions devolved the situation. lxc worked to compromise between 3zun when instead a better course of action mightve been to firmly get them to separate instead (even tho nmj nd jgy did choose to go for the brotherhood too).  like its not like any are to /blame/ for their choices, but its 3/6

something to think about ig. lost my train of thought but mostly i was just thinking about how “staying out of it” or “not favoring any side or the other” inevitably favors one side. irl when someone says “i stay out of politics/buzzword issues” its bc they can afford to, their inaction favoring the oppressing side. when someone is ignorant of issues that doesnt mean theyre to blame for that but that they need to dig deeper into the world around them. 4/6

tho like ngl i kinda :/ a little at jyl and lxc because i get what they were trying to do but man… jzx has the excuse of just being really out of the loop for things but jyl is there to see with her own eyes the imbalance between what wwx and jc says, lxc probably couldve been more concerned about Clan Decimater xy getting into jgs’s graces over causing trouble for jgy. not his own sect but, idk, i keep thinking about it to pre ssc when the bigger sects all looked away from the smaller sects 5/6

this is a really long chain of asks, sorry about that, but yeah i meant to point out earlier how its not just an in-universe problem but also from a fandom perspective. never gonna get over how ppl are like “jc and wwx have equal love bc they made equal sacrifices!” when its clear that its not equal, that jc once loved and then regretted while wwx loved and refused to regret or think on it further. jyl choosing wwx once doesnt absolve her choosing jc every other time :/ 6/6

Yeah, I think a good chunk of MDZS revolves around how there comes a point where you can’t be neutral, because even trying to be is in and of itself favouring one side or the other. In MDZS attempted neutrality ranges from sympathetic (the other sects not fighting the Wens straight away because they didn’t think they could win a fight and hoped that if they stayed out of it the Wens would leave them alone) to considerably less so (the sects letting JGS keep XY alive and active even after everything he did so that they didn’t rock the boat, JYL enabling JC’s abuse because he might get annoyed at her if she stepped in on WWX’s behalf), but it’s always... a problem. People very much simplify everything that happens down to equal conflicts and equal relationships, but I don’t think there’s a single truly equal conflict in this entire novel; they’re all the sort of conflict where staying neutral is taking the side of the more powerful party, because the weaker party can’t win without help.

[addictedtostorytelling]

Does it bother you that they never mentioned the fact the Grissom and Sara got divorced, then got married again in this revival? Why do you think Sara was so nervous that she lost her ring?

hi, anon!

personally? nope!

i thought for sure they'd mention it in last night's episode—just because the case of the week involved a divorce, and hugo talked about his divorce, and the ring plot lent itself to that particular kind of discussion—and found myself pleasantly surprised when they never brought it up.

i hate the divorce with all the salt that is in me and generally ignore the later seasons of the original series anyway, so i'm more than happy for tptb to basically retcon that storyline out of existence by omission.

for myself, i like to pretend that this reboot takes place in a story world where grissom and sara have been continuously married since 2009, and i'm glad that the writers have essentially enabled me to do so.

in this 'verse, after newlywed sara spent a few months moonlighting on-and-off at the lab during s10 of the original series*, her and grissom's research grant did finally come through, so in reboot episode 01x01 "legacy," when she talks about having to leave the lab to go join her husband in an adventure, that's what she's referring to**. she and grissom have been living on the high seas, doing crazy awesome science together ever since***.

* though, of course, with grissom present in vegas much more regularly than in canon—as in "he's there more often than not; it's just that they also have this other life outside of nevada, and he never comes back to the lab like she does."

** and, yeah, i'm ignoring the "sara was made lab director for three seconds before she quit" stuff from "immortality" just because it never made a hell of a lot of sense to me anyway, and for this timeline, it doesn't fit. we just have to omit a couple of max's lines from the reboot pilot and sara asking nora cross if any of the cases hodges worked during her time in charge were under review in episode 01x04 "long pig," and we're good to go.

*** overall, it's not my preferred way for their story to play out, for sure, but it's better than canon, imo.

so, yeah, for me, i’m perfectly happy never hearing about the divorce in canon again. good riddance, i say.

of course, if you are less of a nose-thumbing narrative snob than i am and you actually don’t mind or even like the divorce/reunion storyline—which, of course, is a perfectly valid thing, never mind my opinions on that arc—then the good news is that it’s also supremely possible to view this story as taking place in a universe where the divorce/reunion actually did happen (also known as “the canon universe of the original show”).

the thing is, it does make sense that even if the divorce was/is indeed a thing, the grissoms still wouldn’t mention it either between themselves or to others—a) because six years on, they’ve probably already said everything they need to say about the subject to each other, and they don’t like bringing it up between them because done is done, and they’re focused on their present and not their past; and, b) because volunteering that they’re divorced and remarried to each other probably doesn’t typically go over well for them with others, as it either leads to uncomfortable questions or unfair assumptions/judgments which they would rather avoid.

how often does one hear a woman say “i got back together with my ex” and respond “oh, yay, girl, good for you! that sounds like a wise choice”? 

that so, it’s really easy to just assume that they don’t talk about that particular era of their history, even though it happened.

i mean, you can definitely even read valences of that experience into this week’s episode, if you’re so inclined.

i.e., you can say that at least part of the reason why sara is so upset about losing her ring is that, particularly in light of what hugo says, she is scared about losing grissom again OR even just that she doesn’t like being without her ring because the last time she was without it for an extended period of time was during the divorce years, and she doesn’t like being reminded.

as for why i think sara was nervous about her ring being lost, i got it covered in this post.

thanks for the question, anon! please feel welcome to send another any time.

[sneakydraws]

Well, here it is - a lengthy explanation of each card in my mdzs major arcana deck and what I meant to convey/what i would have changed in retrospect/what alternatives i considered! It’s a bit messy and my typing style is lazy but hopefully it will be an interesting read to some of you :)

And so you don’t say I didn’t warn you - jiang cheng’s section (11 justice) is absurdly long lmao

0 the fool  I elaborated on this in the post itself but yeah basically jin ling is kind of representative of all the damage and trauma caused by the past, and there’s a kind of danger there of him falling victim to the same vices as the older characters and repeating the same mistakes and perpetuating the cycle of war and misery (the cycle that we already see with how the jin sect became the new wen sect, and later with how jgy became the new wwx) and he has a lot of room to grow! He grows so much over the course of the novel, comes to realise the complexities of the past and gets a harsh life lesson in how nothing is as black and white as it seems. But ill save talking about his progress for the end, for now whats important is that he has room to grow and also a dog. I don’t really have a justification for the sun, i mostly just thought it looked sick? It made its way to the next card as well, where it makes a bit more sense, but then i realised it was a dumb motif to include 1 the magician I still very much like wwx for the role, and that illustration would have probably had him raising a corpse on his left and pointing threateningly to the sun on his right. I considered including the table as well, with some mdzs relevant items replacing the card suits. Anyway, like i said wwx got a few cards to himself already so i went with the alternative wq design, since i think she fits the card as well. Both she and wwx are highly skilled people, extremely driven once they set their mind to something. The card to me symbolises the creative mind as well as a general drive for action, which fits them both - wwx was famously a prolific inventor, and wq came up with a previously unheard of surgery, after all. This card strays pretty far from the rider-waite deck design, largely because i was still figuring out how i wanted to approach this series, but you can still see the influence. 2 the high priestess I was actually going to skip this card at first because I couldn’t think of a fitting character, but once i considered a qings character post death, it all fit pretty well. She was already a highly intuitive person in life, and in sharing her memories with wwx she is, in a way, relaying a kind of secret knowledge. Anyway she’s one of my fav characters so im glad i got a chance to include her. The coffins could be interpreted to be xxc and sl or xxc and xy 3 the empress Theres other mother figures in mdzs who got to be mothers for a longer time, but jyl definitely embodies the positive aspects of this card the best. She’s nurturing, kind, emotionally supportive, she already mothered wwx and jc quite a bit when she was young. Plus i liked that the rw card had both water and flowers, making an easy lotus connection. In retrospect the stars look kind of out of place and i should have replaced them with something more relevant... Also, i should have had her hold a lotus seed pod instead of a flower, haha 4 the emperor Like i said I considered jc for the role but hoching bullied me into admitting that nmj was better… they’re both more of an inverted emperor than an upright one but then again theres hardly any character in mdzs who would fit upright emperor so. Jgs was also considered but he’s even uglier than nmj so i couldn’t bear to draw him 5 the hierophant It was pointed out to me that lqr would have fit this card better and the truth if that statement haunts me to this day. Unfortunately I have no space in my brain for lqr so lxc got the role instead. My main reason was his role during the wen destruction of gusu lan, when he ran away with the contents of the library - this is why there’s bookshelves behind him. The keys, take, from the rider-waite deck, are meant to represent the gusu pendants that allow you to enter 6 the lovers Im sure many people would have chosen wangxian here but I uhh don’t really care abt wangxian personally? And also their love story is so convoluted that jyl and jzx seem idyllic by comparison lol. Also i didnt really have an idea for who to put in the angel’s place for wangxian… mme jin certainly did not get these two together in the end but undeniably she and mme yu did initially give them a chance to fall for each other so. Thats something i guess. Anyway the trees became their sects’ flowers and the mountain became the burial grounds - an omen of their tragic fate, basically 7 the chariot There might have been other characters who fit this card better but i couldn’t really think of another card for lwj and i thought it would be weird to not include him… anyway i don’t really care for current timeline lwj BUT i do like that he was clearly influenced by wwx to walk his own path in life based on his moral convictions rather than follow his sect’s rules blindly. The chariot is to me a card of self control, self determination and focused action, so it seemed fitting. The composition felt kind of empty without the actual chariot so i padded it out with the guqin, the cloud recess in the bg (it doesn’t look great but i tried to replicate the drama design….) and the bunnies which conveniently fit the colour scheme of the sphinxes in the rider-waite design 8 strength Like i said before, my interpretation of this card is more… morally ambiguous than the quote unquote official meaning, so i thought about manipulative or duplicitous characters more than kind characters whose strength is expressed through gentleness (though i did consider jyl briefly for the latter interpretation). As such, i considered both jgy and nhs, but ended up going with jgy largely because i couldn’t pass up the opportunity to put the nie sect’s beast as the lion. 9 the hermit My thoughts immediately went to bssr lol. It may be an overly literal interpretation but whatever, i like it just fine. And i like that i managed to echo the rider-waite silhouette in the mountain and the tree (and even in bssr herself) 10 wheel of fortune God i love the parallels between these 2… this card to me is about how you cant trust your current situation, good or bad, to last forever, and these 2 embody that perfectly imo. Wwx went from son of a well off servant and a powerful cultivator, to street rat orphan, to adopted son of sect leader jiang, to double orphan, to MIA, to terrifying but admired warrior, to terrifying and despised traitor, to dead, to, at the very end, suddenly respected and trusted again. The dishonesty and cheapness of whatever the public’s current opinion of him is is portrayed beautifully as far as im concerned. And jgy of course claws his way up to power only to instantaneously become public enemy number one, to the point that he’s probably blamed for stuff there’s no reason to believe he had a hand in. Wei wuxian’s silent astonishment at how quickly the cultivation world turns against jgy and towards him again is a delicious moment of thematic resonance.  11 justice I settled on this card for jc after he got booted from the emperor seat but i do think it fits, in a somewhat convoluted way. I turned both the sword and the scales into visual representations of the golden core transfer (can you tell im obsessed with it). According to biddy tarot, the justice card is partly about searching for the truth, and the scene where jc finds out about the transfer is of course a big deal. I was also very influenced by the reversed meaning again - which is about being reluctant or unwilling to face or accept the consequences of your actions. I feel on an intuitive level that this fits jc but I’m not sure how well i can explain it - it’s something about how he’s a little too comfortable scapegoating wwx for things that were also, if much less so, influenced by his actions, and also something about the way he keeps wwx at an arm’s length emotionally but still leans on him and accepts his support when he really needs it, and somewhat hypocritically expects wwx to put the needs of him and the jiang sect before the needs of others. And also something about the core exchange is the consequence and proof of wwx’s deep - terrifyingly deep, even - love and care for him, which is something jc doesn’t seem to let himself acknowledge. Maybe even something about how you could argue that the way all of the jiangs acted around wwx - jfm’s favouritism that left him with the feeling of a debt he needs to repay, mme yus insistence that he be a servant more than a brother to jc, prepared to give his life for jc, and jc’s own unwillingness - or inability, he was a child after all - to clearly acknowledge wwx as an equal to himself, enabling wwx’s self sacrificial and protective tendencies - that all of this was what caused wwx’s complete and unquestioning willingness to do whatever it took to protect jc, and therefore paved the way to the golden core transfer. And i don’t mean this to be scapegoating jc - especially considering how young he was when this all went down, it wouldn’t be fair to expect this level of emotional perceptiveness, awareness and maturity of him - but i think adult jc has to grapple with the fact that the chain of cause and effect was not as simple as wwx fucking everyone’s lives up to be a martyr, and that both jc and his parents had a role in that story as well. I don’t even necessarily think this is something that jc only realised in the current timeline - i think it’s something he felt on some level this whole time, and it probably led to a lot of feelings of guilt - but the suibian reveal definitely puts it in sharp focus, and i think he’s now better equipped to handle this introspection than he was as a recently orphaned, traumatised teenager, lol. ANYWAY the window with the fabric is both a nod to the rider-waite design and a reference to the destruction of lanling - i actually did some basic ass research for this, and it seems that in ancient china fabric would indeed be hanged in a window if the normally used paper was damaged. The design of the window, as well as the very idea to use it to imply the reconstruction of lanling, was taken from this great piece of jc angst by my pal moroll1! Oh yeah also the covered window kind of works as a denial of forgiveness for jc because it’s like a halo but covered up... Also I completely forgot to put a blindfold over his eyes which would be perfectttt because blind justice and the core exchange......... ok moving on 12 the hanged man I always have issues with this card because i cant find a satisfactory summary of what it’s really about. Best i can tell it symbolises a need to hit pause, surrender or let go of something… ive also seen it tied to sacrifice? So mo xuanyu doesn’t fit perfectly, but sacrifice is definitely there in a surface level reading kind of way, and the idea that you have to surrender or let go in order to achieve your goal does fit the whole deal of getting revenge but giving up your life in exchange and not being there to see it 13 death This is probably one of my favourite cards, definitely not because I have huge issues with change or anything…. I see this card as signalling the necessity of change or putting an end to something / leaving something in the past in order to start anew? At first i considered putting past wwx, mxy and current wwx here as a kind of transformation and one cycle flowing into the next... But firstly, I’d already used mxy in the very previous card, so putting him in again would feel like overkill, and secondly, the longer I thought about it the less convinced I was that this would even fit with the card’s meaning? Because coming back from the dead doesn’t like... trigger an internal transformation within wwx or anything? Anyway, fun fact: the design I ended up going with was actually originally intended for judgement! I thought I was being very clever with the whole “figure plays an instrument and the dead rise” parallel, but apparently I’d just completely forgotten that the judgement card had a completely different composition... Truly I was boo boo the fool... But yeah anyway at the end of the day I figured the design would kind of work for death as well, with Wen Ning and the theme of transformation, (since in his case coming back as a fierce corpse does actually mark a certain transformation in behaviour) and Wei Wuxian’s protection of the Wen people essentially signifying an attempt to break the cycle of oppression if that makes any sense? Like, wwx is trying to revolutionise the way the world works a bit, if you catch my drift 14 temperance  The centrist card! Again this is probably going off track from the “official” interpretation, but to me this card has a certain “don’t commit fully; do everything in moderation; don’t take either side” flavour to it that i personally find infuriating irl and that i very much assign to lxc. It’s entirely possible that I’m misinterpreting his character because i didn’t really pay him (and the 3zun in general) much mind while reading, but hell, I’m allowed to pick favourites and choose who i want to interpret deeply vs shallowly. Again, i wish id chosen lqr for hierophant because its so annoying for a character i don’t care about to get two cards…. But oh well 15 the devil My alternative idea for this was jgy as the devil and lxc plus nmj as the figures, but since all three had been featured already (multiple times, even!) i figured I’d go with xy instead, especially since he’s among my faves lol. I think the devil signifies something along the lines of unhealthy attachment, obsession or addiction, which isn’t 100% accurate in the case of xxc and a-qing, but if i stretch it a bit to cover toxic relationships in general, and especially manipulation or negative influence, i don’t think it’s half bad. My main struggle here was to choose who amongst the xxc/sl/aq trio to choose for the human figures. 16 the tower Arguably jin zixuans death and the following massacre of nightless city were the final and most direct reason for the siege of burial mounds, and the tiger seal is good shorthand for wwx’s loss of control over his powers, which led to the deaths of jzx and jyl. When reimagining major arcana i like to feature some kind of building in this card (spoilers for a possible future project but in my rose of versailles major arcana set the tower is bastille) and even if it’s not a tower, the image of wwx looming over the gathered crowd from atop a rooftop is so good i couldn’t resist 17 the star Struggled with this one - considered both jin ling and lsz for it, as symbolising a hope for the future, but that was kind of covered by the world so it wouldn’t make sense to include here as well... As usual when I struggle with interpreting a card (as opposed to understanding it but struggling with matching a character to it, like with death or moon) I went to biddy tarot and read all the details about its meaning. What i got was that this card signifies an incoming period of introspection and inner peace following a time of turmoil, as well as a general moving on into a new, better phase of one’s life or finding new meaning and purpose. The figure also suggests someone vulnerable, but possessing a keen sense of intuition as well as a good degree of practicality and common sense. Given all those, I settled for mianmian because IM LOVE HER..... I also kind of see her as a prelude to the “just one person is enough” theme present in tgcf!! And i think her decision to abandon her sect because she saw the toxicity and corruption in it is a very inspiring action - even if it didn’t make a large visible impact, i think the appearance of her and her idyllic family at the very end of the novel - paralleling and mirroring wangxian - implies that at the end of the day, it was a meaningful one 18 the moon Another card i ALWAYS fuxking struggle with - this time less because i can’t grasp its meaning and more because I can never find a character that fits it well. I usually get fixated on the “dreams and subconscious” part, but if i lean more on the “disguise, deceit, anxiety and fear” part, i eventually figured the whole yi city arc wouldn’t be a bad fit. I say the entire arc because it really does encompass all those themes if you include both the past and the present - xue yang’s disguise, his tricks with the villagers, a-qing’s lies and even xxc’s reluctance to talk about his past as well as xue yang pretending to be xxc all fit the disguise and deceit angle, and the general mystery and creepiness of the current timeline yi city work well with the anxiety and fear - the mist, the slow uncovering of the past, even a-qing being revealed to be an ally after scaring the shit out of the protags. I definitely struggled with including all the elements and characters, and even moreso with making them vaguely fit the rider-waite composition, but i think it ended up okay ish. OH and i completely forgot to draw mist swirling around them :( 19 the sun I was considering mianmian’s family for this one, but since I used her for star, I ended up with wwx and his parents instead. Once again I’m reinterpreting the card a bit - normally I think it symbolises incoming times of pure happiness and abundance, as well as a connection with the inner child, but I gave it more of a nostalgic or sentimental twist - wwx looking back at the brief glimpse of his happy childhood. 20 judgement another card that i struggle to interpret a bit... Here i actually used the tgcf tarot zine as a reference! In it judgement is summarised as “rebirth, following duty, absolution” SO i figured that nhs, mxy and wwx all together would fit pretty neatly... wwx achieving (public) absolution through clearing his own name after being reborn, and nhs sort of calling on wwx to expose jgy’s crimes... It’s a bit messy but not bad I think! 21 the world This ties very closely to my read on mdzs as a story - which is that it’s, at the end of the day, largely about cycles, and about how hard it is to break them, but how we gotta keep trying and have hope anyway. Or maybe more precisely, that the people directly involved with and influenced by the trauma of the past might not be able to get over said trauma and that the hope for healing from it will be shouldered by the new generation. Or something like that… Basically what i mean is that jc and wwx and lwj and lxc and nhs and jgy and all these people who were in the thick of the sunshot campaign and the siege are so profoundly affected by it that it genuinely feels by the end of the story like there is little hope for them to ever truly overcome that trauma and build a better future without repeating the same old mistakes - but there is a glimmer of hope in the new generation, specifically in jl and lsz. And it’s a bit paradoxical, because they have also been directly impacted by the past tragedies - lsz having his entire clan wiped out after wwx failed to protect them, jl losing both his parents to wwx’s mistakes - but despite that loss, and despite coming from arguably the two opposing sides of the past conflicts, they are both, in the end, capable of moving past that tragedy, of recognising the complicated nature of those conflicts (jl’s moment of clarity at the end is both heartbreaking and hopeful) and forging friendships between clans in the process. I honestly think that the extra where jl is struggling to assert his authority as sect leader, to treat his subjects well and to cooperate with other sects in a truly amicable way is the single hopeful ending note for the larger themes of the novel - it allows us to imagine that maybe these kids can learn from the mistakes of their elders rather than getting sucked in by resentment at those mistakes, and actually build a brighter future for the cultivation world. And sidenote, this is also why i have a soft spot for jin ling and lan sizhui as a ship... speaking of which their poses were directly referenced from the lovers card ehehe

Looking back, I’d like to add some symbol of jin ling’s trauma so that it mirrors baby wen yuan in the tree stump... maybe his father’s sword? 

[bestworstcase]

Hi, I really love your thoughts and analysis on tts so I wanted to ask if you have read The Vanishing Village Book? It made me really think about Eugene's character. I sorta disliked him in the book and felt his relationship with Rapunzel was different and strained. I guess my question is if you think Eugene is a good character? I feel that I am biased for liking the story and relationship between Cassandra and Rapunzel so perhaps I am not seeing him in a fair light but there's just factors that make me feel he might not be the best for Rapunzel. I love their relationship and value & dedication towards each other but their relationship can feel a bit stale sometimes and Eugene can come off as not understanding and dismissive towards Rapunzel sometimes so ig I'd like to be proven wrong and be reminded that Eugene is good for Rapunzel

i have read vanishing village (and i remember liking it better than lost lagoon) but i have to admit i don’t remember anything but the very broad strokes of the plot, so i don’t feel equipped to do any analysis of eugene based on it; that being said -

i do really like eugene as a character in the sense that he is. interesting / engaging / compelling, which yeah to my mind that’s what makes a “good character” but also has nothing to do with the, kind of, moral or personal question of but is he a good guy or is he likable or sympathetic or that kind of thing. and on that my feelings are more ambivalent kfjfjdhs

on the one hand i do find his relationship with rapunzel in tts to be fairly refreshing. it’s nice to see a fictional m/f couple that is just… comfortable with each other, friends with each other, able to talk about their problems collaboratively with each other. that is so rare in fiction, where the tendency is so often to rely on miscommunication to manufacture relationship drama or do the will they won’t they, on again off again nonsense which is just so tiresome - and it feels good to have a m/f couple that eschews that altogether. and it’s also imo really nice that the m/f relationship fades so much into the background vis a vis the wider plot, which i know is not necessarily a popular opinion [vague gestures at all the ‘eugene was sidelined’ discourse] but, like, i feel like i can count on one hand the number of stories i know where the female protagonist *has a male love interest* without the story being ABOUT him, and with the male love interest filling this supportive narrative role while quietly and subtly dealing with his own problems on the side? it’s so difficult to find stories where men aren’t centered and so i appreciate eugene and new dream a lot for that reason too.

but at the same time like - eugene def falls victim to the plot-driven writing just like every other character does and that frustrates me because i think ultimately having all these loose threads hanging with him means his character feels a bit stagnant, and that in turn makes his flaws more glaring because they’re never… worked on or addressed, they just sort of persist or silently fade away for the most part. (which again, is true of literally every character because the storytelling of tts is highly plot driven and episodic)

& that phenomenon can make character interpretation a little convoluted, because… well the intentions of the narrative are signaled pretty baldly (eugene grows out of his selfishness and becomes a compassionate hard working leader for corona, which he has embraced as his home) without having much if any on-screen development to back it up (indeed the premise of flynnposter involves eugene shirking his new responsibilities, and then it concludes with a commitment from him to take the captain gig seriously - but thereafter the only time we get to see this demonstrated through him encouraging project obsidian [which makes him look the opposite of compassionate or responsible given he is excitedly planning to extrajudicially murder cassandra] and then joining the fight against zhan tiri [which literally everyone in corona does]). so do we take what the textual development shows us and conclude that eugene is, at the end of the day, just another cop, or do we take the narrative signaling as a given and fill in the textual gaps with our own imaginations? i tend to fall heavier on the textual side but i do try to take intentions into consideration when they are signaled so clearly, because i understand the structural and corporate limitations on what the tts team were able to do with the story.

anyways - i also have some fraught feelings about new dream because, in the film, it’s not a relationship that i can buy into at all. rapunzel is 17, a few days shy of 18, when an adult man in his mid-twenties tumbles into her bedroom, hits on her, tries to take advantage of her naïveté so he can recover his stolen goods and screw her over because he’s spent his life cultivating an attitude of selfish disregard for anyone but himself, but she’s so sweet he decides to give emotional vulnerability a try and within three days they’re in love and then they get MARRIED?? and he’s literally the first person rapunzel has ever met who wasn’t her “mother”? excuse me???

and i get the impression the tts team was fully cognizant of that problem and made a real effort to address it, as much as they could within the context of the designated disney princess couple - that’s how we get things like the BEA proposal and rapunzel and eugene talking their feelings out afterwards and agreeing to take things slower, and that’s how we get things like rapunzel having cass and eugene having lance so they have lives and identities and relationships outside of each other, and it’s why eugene has a little arc of becoming less self-absorbed in the front half of s1 and why cassandra overtly criticizes his treatment of rapunzel in BEA and so on and so forth. like no one says it OUT LOUD in the series but rapunzel’s and eugene’s relationship is fraught with peril because of the way they met and came together, and it takes significant emotional work from both of them to navigate that to arrive at a healthy place, and i enjoy watching that play out.

so yeah eugene is sometimes too in his own head to notice when something is wrong with rapunzel, like how he misses how unhappy she is in BEA because *he’s* so jazzed about palace living, and sometimes they struggle to get on the same page with each other in general; but that’s just, kind of the gig where relationships are concerned. what matters to me is that whenever these hiccups happen we see, typically some confusion or distress from him or rapunzel or both, and then they reach out for each other and talk about it until they reach an understanding, which is the correct healthy way to manage this sort of conflict in a relationship. and of course through it all eugene is pretty unflagging in his absolute support of rapunzel - even if he doesn’t always *express it* in a good way, he is always very invested in rapunzel’s happiness and well-being. like even the BEA proposal, eugene’s fuck up lies in assuming that rapunzel felt the same way he did about everything and that proposing now would make her happy - there’s self-absorption there but not to the point where he isn’t concerned about her feelings, so when he upsets her he immediately realizes that he screwed up and shelves his own feelings to focus on hers, which is very Good Partner of him.

and then again on a metatextual level i do kind of hate that rapunzel’s arc is essentially, trapped in corona -> adventure! -> adventure is traumatic time to go home -> exact same circumstances she started in but she’s happy about it now. not to say i object to rapunzel embracing her role as a princess/queen per se, but in an ideal world i would like that to come from a place of rapunzel remaking her role to suit herself rather than just kind of… this ‘well got the wanderlust out of my system forever!’ vibe i get from plus est. this isn’t directly related to eugene at all but i think it does splash over onto him on account of him being so closely intertwined with her life in corona. if rapunzel were given an arc about tearing down institutions that stifled her in s1 and really rebuilding corona to be better (something that is lightly implied in canon but never quite makes its way to outright text) then of course eugene would have been her number one supporter - but she doesn’t get that arc and so eugene ends up just kind of being there while rapunzel settles into the role laid out for her. (the destiny narrative being played painfully straight in this regard doesn’t help either.)

this is all a bit of a ramble but i guess what i’m getting at is i think at the end of the day the thing that makes new dream feel a bit stale or stagnant is the series sticking to this aggressively pro-monarchy, status quo is good, mass market appeal narrative enforced by the reality of Disney Princess Show, and that’s not eugene’s fault or any character’s fault, it’s a corporate issue and writing issue.

oh and also personally i think eugene’s biggest flaw in the new dream relationship is he has a tendency to enable rapunzel’s worst impulses via unquestioning support - a little healthy skepticism can be very good for a relationship vs just being your partner’s yes man. so when i imagine a character trajectory for him post-series it involves eugene getting more comfortable pushing back when rapunzel is pursuing ideas that are bad in some way.

[minettestan]

Do you have a tag for games you recommend? I'm always looking for new games and my experience with point and click or 90s computer games is sorely lacking.

💕My favorite question💕 I took one of my old posts and updated it, so here!

💕 Personal Favorite

💀 Scary Content

👧 Female Protagonist

✨ Important to the genre’s history

📚 Tricky for new players, look up controls or a walkthrough to get started

❕  Difficult

👿 Potential insensitive content

The Colonel’s Bequest (1989) $5.99 💕✨👧💀❕📚

“It is the year 1925, and the roaring '20s are well underway. As Laura Bow, young college student, you've been invited to visit the Colonel's isolated estate. Watch as the Colonel announces his intention to bequeath his millions to all present!”

The classic Sierra murder mystery game, developed by the mother of the genre Roberta Williams. Laura Bow is a sorely overlooked female protagonist. The game works by navigating Laura and typing in commands, kinda of tricky at first. Tons of game overs are a hallmark of a Sierra adventure game so save often! If you play the GOG.com version you get the benefit of autosaves. This game runs a timer, the events of the night will unfold with or without you so stay on your toes and keep moving! The game can be found for free here, but imo the $5.99 is worth it for the easy of access.

The Dagger of Amon-Ra (1992) $5.99 👧✨❕📚👿💀

“Laura Bow, intrepid heroine of The Colonel's Bequest, is back! This time she's trapped in a huge, imposing museum in the dead of night, surrounded by socialites, miscreants, thieves...and a cold, relentless murderer.“

Roberta Williams is back! Iconic game, iconic heroine. It’s still a Sierra game so like TCB there are tons of (iconic) game overs, so save often. Solving puzzles in this one gives me a great serotonin rush. Unfortunately, this game has some racism issues, particularly with the characters Lo Fat and Ramses. While an important game in the genre take it with a huge grain of salt and maybe turn of the (kind of awful) voice acting and enable text-only mode and you’ll avoid some awful accents.

Sam & Max: Hit the Road (1993) $5.99 💕✨

“Sam (a canine shamus) and Max (a hyperkinetic rabbity thing) are hot on the trail of a runaway carnival bigfoot across America’s quirky underbelly in this deranged animated adventure!“

Sam & Max are truly my favorite characters in all of fiction. I have the box art to this game as my phone case. I have Sam & Max action figures, a plush Max on my bed, a print edition of Sam & Max Freeland Police Special #1 framed on my wall. From comics, to games, to cartoons I love these guys. Sam & Max: Hit the Road is a classic of the Lucasarts adventure games. That being said, it’s the least user-friendly of the Sam & Max adventure games and the slowest. I still love it to bits and it’s important to the genre’s history imo.  

Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (1993) $5.99 💕💀👿

“The adventure of Gabriel Knight starts with gathering materials for his new book, and ends up becoming a fight for his very soul. He must now face countless dangers in New Orleans, Africa and Germany, each bringing him ever closer to unraveling the mystery behind suspicious voodoo murders. Haunted by nightmares, he won't give up until he reveals the truth. “

Another Sierra game directed by a woman, Jane Jenson. Gabriel Knight, voiced by Tim Curry, is one of my favorite adventure game protagonists of all time. This game is scary and gory so enter at your own risk! I love the gameplay in this one, I love the narrator, I love the puzzles. But it seems Sierra games have some problems with the representation of minorities. The game is set in New Orleans and focuses on a voodoo cult. Which means consequently the game's major antagonists are all black. Unlike the Dagger of Amon Ra, Sins of the Fathers actually employed black actors to play black characters. There’s a lot to be said about the ways in which white media demonizes voodoo and those who practice it. If you play this one, remain critical. And for the love of god, don’t play the 20th anniversary version.

Day of the Tentacle: Remastered (1993/2016) $14.99 ✨👧❕

“Originally released by LucasArts in 1993 as a sequel to Ron Gilbert’s ground breaking Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle is a mind-bending, time travel, cartoon puzzle adventure game in which three unlikely friends work together to prevent an evil mutated purple tentacle from taking over the world!“

Another classic LucasArts game! This was the first game co-headed by Tim Schaffer who would go on to make the outstanding Grim Fandango! This one is exceedingly wacky and the remastered version has made it more user-friendly than ever.

Toonstruck (1996) $9.99 💕

“Drew Blanc is a cartoon animator and the original creator of the Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun Show.. Drew's boss, Sam Schmaltz, sets him the task of designing more bunnies to co-star in the Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun Show by the next morning. However, the depressed animator soon nods off, suffering from acute artist's block. He wakes early the next morning to inexplicably find his television switched on, announcing the Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun Show. Suddenly, Drew is mysteriously drawn into the television screen and transported to an idyllic two-dimensional cartoon world populated by his own creations, among many other cartoon characters.“

If you’re a fan of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? you’ll love this. Christopher Lloyd is Drew Blanc (ha) trying to save a cartoon world through inventory item puzzles. Truly wacky, zany, and ani-mainy. I played Toontown as a kid so I’m predisposed to like this one. This is also the only game with Full Motion Video I’m putting on the list because FMV games can be an acquired taste.

Grim Fandango (1996/2015) $14.99 💕✨

“Something's rotten in the land of the dead, and you're being played for a sucker. Meet Manny Calavera, travel agent at the Department of Death. He sells luxury packages to souls on their four-year journey to eternal rest. But there's trouble in paradise. Help Manny untangle himself from a conspiracy that threatens his very salvation.“

Yesssssssss! I LOVE Grim Fandango! The iconic game directed by Tim Schaffer has received the best remaster I’ve seen a point n’ click receive. I cannot recommend Grim Fandango enough! Stick with it through the forest section, trust me.

The Last Express (1997) $5.99 ❕ 📚

“Paris, 1914. The world is on the brink of war and this train could push it over the edge. You are Robert Cath, a young American urgently summoned by your old friend Tyler Whitney to join him aboard the Paris-Constantinople express, departing from the Gare de l'Est on July 24th. Arriving late, you discover something has gone terribly wrong. Now you must untangle a complex web of political intrigue, suspense, romance, and betrayal. Every move you make could bring you closer to the truth or your own demise. Bon voyage! “

Ooooh I love a murder on a train! This game features rotoscope animation, which I love. Like The Colonel’s Bequest this game runs in real time, meaning the events of the game will unfold with or without you, depending on where you are at what time you’ll receive different information or see/miss different events. Very replayable with several different outcomes.

Sam & Max Save the World (Remastered) $19.99 💕

“ Sam is a six-foot canine detective with a love of justice. Max is a hyperkinetic rabbity-thing with a taste for mayhem. Together, they're the Freelance Police. And they're about to save the world.”

Sam & Max Save the World, originally released in episodes from 2006-2008 has been remastered and looks AMAZING! After LucasArts was shut down their game devs formed Tell Tale Games and produced three seasons of Sam & Max sequel games, all of which are great. But TellTale was shut down (and screwed over their employees) in 2018. Since then some of their devs have formed Skunkape Games and are currently remastering all of Tell Tale’s Sam & Max series (I’m thrilled). They’ve also adjusted some aspects of the game to make the game more inclusive and less **offensive. So imo it’s worth it to wait for the release of the other seasons to experience Sam & Max in pristine condition. Save the World is the only season out now, but you can get the non-remastered versions of Beyond Time and Space, and In The Devil’s Playhouse, here and here.

 **I should note the “offensive” material in the original is not as egregious as say, The Dagger of Amon-Ra, but it’s just a nice change to see especially in a game I hold dear.

Emerald City Confidential (2009) $9.99 👧

“Explore the underbelly of Oz as Emerald City's most cunning detective! As Petra, you'll be lured deep into mysteries involving new foes and familiar faces; Scarecrow, Lion, and Toto included! This is Oz as you've never seen it before! Solve the mystery and unravel a conspiracy of magic and intrigue! Follow a case through five chapters full of puzzles, witnesses, suspects, and allies in this twist on a timeless classic! “

We’re moving out of the 1990s now. Emerald City Confidential is the Wizard of Oz meets film noir. I played this as 13 year old and have revisited it as an adult and I still eat it up. Wadjet Eye makes consistently good adventure games so check this one out!

The Blackwell Series (2006) $14.99 💕👧

“Meet Rosangela Blackwell, an embittered writer who just found out that she is a medium and that it’s her mission, whether she likes it or not, to assist tormented spirits and investigate other supernatural goings-on. She is assisted by the sardonic Joey Mallone, a ghost from the 1930s.”

Another Wadjet Eye game! I’ve seen these games recommended amoungst the Clue Crew before and I’ll just throw my own endorsement on the pile. Yeah I’m in love with Joey Mallone. What about it?

The Charnel House Trilogy (2015) $5.99 👧💀

“Witness The Charnel House Trilogy, the chronicle of one fateful night aboard a train bound for Augur Peak. Three thrilling, horrifying adventure games in one, from the depths of the Sepulchre.”

Plays like Blackwell, has a Blackwell reference at the beginning, okay you got me. This is a good, if kinda short, game. It’s very creepy, involves murder and has some gore/violence so watch out! I’m still waiting on the sequel Owl Cave!

Thimbleweed Park (2017) $19.99 👧

“A haunted hotel, an abandoned circus, a burnt-out pillow factory, a dead body pixelating under the bridge, toilets that run on vacuum tubes... you’ve never visited a place like this before.“

Made by Ron Gilbert and  Gary Winnick the creators of the classic games Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island Thimbleweed Park is a love letter to the classics of the point and click adventure genre. Features 5 different playable characters, ala Maniac Mansion, who and how many you play is up to you! This one also has stand alone DLCs!

Unavowed (2018) $14.99 👧

“ A demon possessed you one year ago. Since that day, you unwillingly tore a trail of bloodshed through New York City. Your salvation comes in the form of the Unavowed – an ancient society dedicated to stopping evil.”

Okay I haven’t actually played this one, but I want to. Its a Wadjet Eye so you know it’s good. From the reviews I’ve seen this is the Blackwell Series meets Dragon Age. A point and click that incorporates RPG elements, I love that.

I also have a love of the more, strange, and unusual adventure games that I can't necessarily recommend with good conscience. So if you want bizarre 90s and early 2000s games of dubious quality hit me up.